CHAPTER 4
The next day Erza and Lucy were walking towards the guild to meet up with the rest of the team. Lucy had been unusually quiet since morning and Erza was beginning to worry for her friend.
"Lucy?"
"Hm?" Lucy hums in response, halfheartedly.
"Do you wish to sit this one out? I'll talk to Master and I'm sure the team won't mind."
"Don't worry Erza. I'm fine!" Lucy bit her lower lip and swallows. With a shake of her head, she whispers, "I need some time away from here anyway."
Nodding her head, Erza smiles and links her arm with Lucy's, dragging her towards their friends waiting outside the guild. As usual, Natsu and Gray were fighting while Wendy was trying and failing to break them off.
Lucy lets out a soft giggle, amused by the sight infront of her. Erza sighs and slowly walks up to them, clapping her hands to get their attention. "Alright guys! Time to move out."
Natsu and Gray, unaware of Erza approaching them, continued fighting and accidentally hits Erza straight in the face. It was like time itself had stopped. Feeling the familiar dark aura near them, the bickering boys instantly drapes their arms around each other and starts laughing rather awkwardly. The next thing happened so fast, Natsu and Gray were lying on the ground unconscious with a furious Erza hovering above them. Lucy clamps her hand over her mouth as she tries to suppress her laughter. Leave it to her team to make her laugh albeit the problems.
The team were now inside the carriage on their way to the place where they'll be meeting the rest of the mages for the mission. Natsu was laying his head on Lucy's lap due to his motion-sickness; Wendy's magic had no affect on him anymore. The blonde was absent-mindedly running her fingers through Natsu's hair while looking outside the window with a distant look in her eyes. Gray had noticed the bags under her eyes the moment he woke up and began to wonder what had caused the girl to look so tired and dejected.
Gray nudges his elbow on her arm, instantly gaining her attention, "Everything alright, Luce?" He asks with concern.
"Yeah. Why?"
"Well, for one thing, you look like you haven't slept for days."
"Oh it's nothing. Just didn't get enough sleep last night." Lucy lets out a nervous laugh, causing Gray to narrow his eyes at her warily.
Ignoring his questioning eyes, Lucy shifts her gaze back to the passing scenery outside the window.
Laxus woke up with a sudden jolt and started scanning around the room but he couldn't find the girl he was looking for. He had dozed off on the couch the previous night waiting for Lucy to show up. He quickly put on his coat and took off in a hurry. As he reached the guild, he swung the doors open and began frantically searching for Lucy, ignoring the greetings from the members. However, neither Lucy nor her team were present at the guild. Noticing the weird looks directed at him, he simply grunts an acknowledgement towards them and walks up to his grandfather who was at the bar, drinking.
"Gramps!"
"Ah! Laxus. Good morning! You're here early." Makarov points out. Trying to look as calm as possible, Laxus sits beside him and asks Mira for a drink.
"Gramps, where is Team Natsu?" He asks, turning his face towards his grandfather. He notices the old man eyeing him in confusion for a moment but shrugs it off.
"You weren't here while I explained last night?" Makarov asks. Laxus shakes his head stiffly, remembering why he wasn't at the guild in the first place, recalling the previous night's incident.
"Explained what?"
"Well, I sent them on an important mission. At the regular meeting the other day, we discussed the recent activity by Seven Votum. As it is not something we can ignore, we decided that some guild has to fight them. This time the enemy is too powerful. And that is why we formed an alliance ourselves. With Sabertooth and Blue Pegasus. Each guild has sent out members to take down the dark guild." explains Master.
Laxus began worrying for Lucy. He knew she was strong and could handle whatever comes her way, still, he was worried. He loved her. Even though he cheated on her. He grits his teeth as his chest clenched tight in pain. "So when will they return?"
"That's the thing. We don't know. This guild, it's location is unknown. Neither do we know much about its members except that they're only seven of them, all exceptionally strong. So the alliance team first have to find the location of the guild." Makarov chugs down his beer audibly and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. "Who knows how long it'll take but hopefully sooner with the help of Hibiki and his Archive Magic."
Nodding, Laxus gulps his own drink down at once and goes in search of his team. If Lucy was going to be away for a while then he, too, would go on a long mission with his own team otherwise he'd go insane worrying and also regretting the despicable things he had done and reliving that night Lucy walked out of his life, over and over again. He needed to make a solid plan to get Lucy to listen to him and forgive him and it wasn't a one-day work. It wasn't going to be easy. He can't just up and spout out the first word that comes to his head without thinking, which he was pretty sure would be streams of apologies. He has to mean every word he says otherwise Lucy won't believe him and she'd really close the door on them then. He knew her too well to know that she was not the type to fall for stupid and lame excuses. He knew if he wanted her back, he would have to be honest with her. And if that's what it takes, his honesty, then so be it! And if she wanted time, he'd give her. Even though it would hurt, it wasn't anything compared to the pain he had caused her. He'd have to work really hard to win her back and he would, without a second thought. All that matters to him is that he loves her. Even though you cheated on her. Reminded the familiar voice in his head again.
Sighing, Laxus picks out a request from the board without looking and beckons his team over to inform them about their mission. Pushing the paper into Freed's ready-to-receive hands so that the green haired man could go over it, Laxus mutters out the time to meet up and leaves the guild looking rather disheartened.
The team finally arrives the meeting place, Blue Pegasus guild, now standing outside before the large mansion. Lucy braces herself. She had to stop thinking about her own problems which may jeopardize their mission. She couldn't put her friends in danger by spacing out and not giving her all during the job. She didn't need to worry her friends by being sad and down. At least now wasn't the right time. Master had trusted them with the mission and she would fight along side her friends wholeheartedly without being distracted. With that resolved, she nods to herself and strolls inside the building with the rest. They then notice the other members had already arrived and were waiting for them.
Sting was the first to notice them. "Natsu-san!" He rushes towards his idol with a wide grin plastered on his face.
Recovering from his motion sickness, Natsu returns the grin. "Yo Sting!"
Lucy and Yukino were chatting; the former excitedly telling her friend about the new keys she had acquired on her missions. Yukino listened intently with twinkling eyes; it was no secret, everyone knew she worshipped the older celestial mage and wished to be like her someday.
Sting had never really paid much attention to Fairy Tail's beloved Lucy Heartifilia before but as he watches her converse with Yukino, he notices the way she moved with such grace, her beauty, her perfect body, the way she talks, laughs and her lovely smile making his stomach flutter. Cursing, he looks away and scolds himself for staring at the girl and.. Wait! Why the fuck was his face heating up? Oh no no! He was a ladies man, for God's sake, girls throw themselves at him and not the other way 'round. And he sure as hell wasn't the type to be tied down by one woman.
Sighing, Sting turns to talk to Natsu-san when he notices Rogue staring at him with what looked like a small smirk, having seen the way his partner eyed the blonde beauty. He then slowly strides towards Sting.
"I thought you'd end up marrying your Natsu-san." Rogue mutters out in amusement, emphasizing the word 'your'. "Apparently, you seem to prefer someone else?!"
"Whatever do you mean?" Sting asks, trying to feign innocence.
Rogue lets out a soft snort and heads to where Lucy was now standing and talking to Natsu and Gray. As they greeted each other and talked among themselves, they hear a sudden shriek and everyone snaps their head towards the noise to see Erza with a spear on her hand trying to pry Ichiya away who was chasing her trying to smell her 'parfum'.
Laughing at the sight, Sting then joins his partner, all the while trying to ignore the weird feeling in his gut when Lucy smiled at him.
"Hello, Sting!"
The blond male winks at the girl and grins, "Hello, Blondie!"
Lucy flinches. Laxus calls her Blondie. So much for needing time away to forget about him. She sighs then gives Sting a small glare. "You're blonde as much!" She retorts back with a smirk.
Sting laughs; the girl was feisty and he liked it. Though he could've sworn he saw her tensed up when he called her Blondie. Shrugging, he decides to let it go.
Lucy suddenly feels a shiver running up her spine and looks down to see Ichiya sniffing her.
*sniff*sniff* "What a lovely parfum, Lucy-san!"
She squeaks loudly in fright and flings herself to Natsu's side in impulse, gripping his shirt tightly. The boy holds her protectively as Gray steps infront of his shivering sister, glaring daggers at the sniffing pervert.
"Stop sniffing our princesses." Gray snarls out in disgust.
"How dare you speak rudely to our Boss!" The Trimens stands up for their leader, who was now tangling by the tip of Erza's spear.
Sting was amused. He watched from the sidelines with Rogue as the Fairy Tail members readies to fight to protect their 'princesses', as Gray had named the girls, from the perverts. His gaze lingers a little longer on Natsu and Lucy. The girl was still in Natsu's arms as the boy held her close to him while Happy teased them relentlessly. He stares with an unsettling feeling inside his gut and frowns. He should be happy for Natsu-san. If they were an item as he assumed. Letting out a forced laughter, Sting watches as the men continued fighting not noticing Yukino and Rogue looking at each other then back at him, smirking all along.
A/N: Chapter 4 complete! Liked it? Please read and review. :)
So uhm..honestly, I've never imagined Lucy and Bacchus as a couple. It is a rarity, indeed. I also see that many of you guys want Natsu to be the bestfriend/brother and not the lover. So I will take your advises into consideration and then decide. However, looks like Natsu is in the lead.
Based on reviews and pm, here is who's leading:
Natsu - 5
Sting- 3
Bacchus- 2
Laxus- 1
Rogue- 1
Anyway guys, Sting has finally made his appearance and I've made the poll so I guess the poll vote starts?! And I'll be only counting votes from the poll. So please vote which pairing you want the most! On my profile page!~ (Ah! :D 'poll' and 'vote' used repeatedly! Gomen!)
Thank you for reading, reviewing and favoriting. :)
~Mrs Dreyar
