Where Lucy and Levy really that OOC last time? Or was it Natsu and Gajeel you guys had a problem with? Maybe when Wendy was predicting Natsu coming after Bixslow?
I thought that they were actually pretty in-character, as Lucy has been known to have Erza-like anger flares when she gets annoyed enough, and I'm guessing that Levy would also snap at their behavior eventually, like she did when she got annoyed at Gajeel during the S-class exams and hit him into next week... Natsu and Gajeel themselves would have been rather scared of the two girls, and to keep themselves out of trouble, would have abandoned their stubbornness routine and just told the two whatever they wanted...
As for Wendy, yeah, that was a bit OOC, but the reaction she got when healing the Raijinshu member and answering the questions was funny. For all we know though, she could have been happy about just being able to help in that sort of situation and disregarded the mood in general.
Or so I thought, but it seems I might be wrong from some of your reactions. QAQ.
Sorry, but please remember, this is my first time writing these guys! I'll try and work on the OOCness, now I have to start making the back stories on when the Dragon Slayers asked the girls to be their mates, and somehow make it so they aren't being ruled by their hormones long enough to actually formally establish a mutual relationship with Lucy and Levy!
Oh, and I just realized that back in the first chapter when I said that there was fifty traps at each entrance of Fairy Hills, it also would have extended to windows...no wonder Levy kept getting blown up last time.
Enjoy the story!
"Okay...how many times are going to have to go through that?" Lucy asked, ten minutes after she had once again been liberated from a certain pink-haired fool. Now fully expecting what the two would try and do, they had been subdued within about five seconds, and now Levy and Fried were now hurriedly moving through book after book to see if they could make more of the instinct-repressing lacryma's.
The blue haired book worm and the blonde celestial mage had managed to get out of the male clothing, and were now in sweatpants and tee shirts that the other girls had managed to find on short notice.
Due to the fact that it was now impossible for the Dragon Slayers to go after anyone but their mates, the townswomen that had been in the women's dorm were now free to go back to their day, leaving the wizards to deal with the upstarts on their own. The majority of their Guildmates also went back to their joking and drinking ways, ignoring that they were technically still in a state of emergency.
Lucy sighed, remembering the words her landlady had told her as she returned to...wherever it was the woman went after she came to collect Lucy's rent money.
"You're the reason that those hooligans aren't running amuck right now then?" the old lady asked, standing with her arms crossed over her bosom and firmly staring over her glasses at the young blonde that resided on her property.
"Er, hai," Lucy straightened her spine, suddenly nervous. The short and portly woman in front of her with the animal fur around her neck had always been able to elect that sort of reaction from the blonde before she even knew what she was doing.
"...I expect you two to keep the noise down to a minimum tonight," she stated, pushing her glasses over her eyes as she turned away from the now blushing blonde teen as she tried in vain to stutter a disagreement. By the smirks given by gossiping women around her though, she could guess that no matter what she said, they would not change their minds...
Even now, Lucy thought she could see some of the ladies in the Guild still giving her knowing smiles, and whenever she saw it, it caused her to blush furiously.
"Until we have the lacryma finished," Erza said calmly as she oversaw the work to be done on securing Natsu and Gajeel...again. The redhead looked over to the group of men who had been drawing on the Dragon Slayer's faces last time, and she glared at them. "And this time, do not remove the blindfolds,"
"A-aye," they nodded quickly, hoping not to annoy the armored woman.
"What are you guys, Happy?" Lucy asked, sweatdropping at them.
"Oh yeah, something that's been bothering me," Erza took her glare off the boys, who heaved sighs of relief, and looked over to the bar at Lucy. "Why did your clothes suddenly change into Natsu's?"
"If I knew that then I wouldn't be here in something I'd go to bed in," the stellar spirit mage sighed, slouching her shoulders. Behind the bar, Lisanna glanced at her sister as she serenely polished glasses, not appearing to pay attention to the other girls' conversation.
"And that should do it...yosh!" Levy yelled over the normal clamor of the Guild, making her way over to her friends, a stack of papers in her hands and Fried was following closely behind her. "Lu-chan! Erza! Master! Fried and I found a way to make effect of the lacryma's more permanent!"
"That's great, Levy-chan! What do we need to do to make them?"
"We need more magic crystals to start with, so could you and Happy get them, Lu-chan?"
"Sure thing, Levy-chan. Come on Happy; the sooner we get those, the sooner we can untie Natsu from the ceiling." Lucy said to the blue cat nonchalantly, grabbing him by the tail as he hovered next to her, staring at the caterpillar-like bundles that were suspended from the ceiling beams, wiggling and twisting as the two Dragon Slayers tried to escape. Besides the blindfolds on their faces, their mouths were frozen by Grey's magic, so that there wouldn't be any repeats of their earlier performance when they had shot breath attacks at each other.
It was only after Lucy bribed the Exceed with a fish that he cheered up from seeing his partner tied up like that.
"Hmm...should I get Natsu the red one or the pink one? Oh! Gajeel would love the metal chain to hold the lacryma, but on second thought, he might eat it..." Lucy pondered as she moved from item to item, forgetting the severity of her mission. On her way to the magic supply shop, she had quickly dropped by her house to change clothes, and brought a dress that Levy had left from their previous read-a-thon. She figured the Solid Script mage would like to get out of barrowed sweats and into her own clothes as soon as possible.
"Lucy, get him the fish one!" Happy shouted to the blonde, holding up a pale blue fish-shaped crystal.
"Where on Earthland did you find that...?" she asked, noting the cats' very...happy atmosphere as he pranced around proudly with his prized find. In the end, they didn't get the fish crystal (making Happy rather pouty for the rest of the day), but Lucy choose a burnished gold color lacryma for Natsu with a simple yet sturdy thread to secure it in place. She got the metal chain for Gajeel though, despite the fear he would eat it if he got hungry, with a gray lacryma.
"Does it really matter what the lacryma's look like, Lucy?" Happy asked, floating next to her as they returned to the Guild, Natsu's new necklace in a bag he was carrying.
"What are you talking about? Of course it does!" she insisted, and they continued that conversation until they reached the Guild again. "Here, Levy-chan; the lacryma's and something to hold them,"
"Wah! These look awesome, Lu-chan!" the blue haired girl exclaimed at the individual and distinctiveness of each necklace. The other girls of the Guild looked over shoulder, agreeing that the stellar spirit mage had done an excellent job.
"Thanks, but it was nothing. Oh, and I brought you a change of clothes you left at my house last time, Levy-chan. So did you get the other things you needed for the spell on the crystals?"
"Un, we just need to enchant them and give them to Natsu and Gajeel,"
"Really? Sorry I took so long then!"
Wakaba had multiple sweatdropps on the back of his head as he and the other guys focused on the grim task of lowering the subjects for the necklaces down from the ceiling. Their atmosphere was dark and gloomy compared to the girl's bubbly and cheerful aura.
"What is taking you guys so long?" Erza asked, noticing that the Dragon Slayers were not back on the ground yet. To her, this was unacceptable. Taking matters into her own hands, she equipped herself with a sword, then jumped over the crowd, slicing the rope that was keeping the two suspended in the air. With nothing to keep them up, they fell onto the guys that had been previously trying to lower. "Next time, do it yourselves,"
"A-aye ma'am,"
"So we just pour a bit of the potion on each...and that should do it. Now we just put them on and let the magic take effect," Levy explained as she and Lucy walked over to the two heaps of moving cloth on the floor. Really, the only way the two girls could tell the Dragon Slayers apart was by their skin tones. "It should start glowing when it's working."
Lucy nodded, and then placed the necklace around the tightly wrapped neck of her mate. Several seconds later, it glowed a subtle orange and Natsu stopped struggling through the restraints, making them retract. The pink haired teen promptly evaporated the ice off his mouth then looked at the blonde wizard in front of him.
Now that Natsu was free and lucid, Lucy had half a mind to drag him somewhere and beat the answers to her questions out of him. But before she could get one syllable out of her mouth, she was scooped up bride-style and walked out the doors of the Guild hall.
"Natsu! What are you doing!?" She asked flustered, cheek slightly pink.
"Hmm? Didn't you have like a ton of questions to ask me earlier?"
"Yes, but what does that have to do with you carrying me out of the Guild like this!? Put me down!"
"Nope; it's faster if I carry you cause then I can get to your house faster and answer what you want me to,"
"Still! There are people staring! Put me down!" She blushed and tried to shield her face from view. So many strangers giving her the same knowing smirk...it was nerve wreaking.
"No."
"Put. Me. Down."
"For someone who acts so smart, you sure do have a problem hearing,"
"Natsu..."
"We're already here anyway, silly," the pink head stated, jumping up to her window and entering the house that way.
"Why did we come through the window!? I do have the key to the front door you know!"
"But it's more fun coming through the window!" He smiled, and the blonde sweatdropped, finally being allowed to stand on her own again.
"So now you're going to answer my- WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING!?" Lucy screamed in frustration, watching as the Fire mage shamelessly raided her kitchen and ate whatever he felt like. Currently he was chugging the hot sauce she normally kept above the fridge (totally made that up just now, considering that Lucy probably doesn't own hit sauce in the first place).
"I'm eating?" Natsu replied with a face that said 'duh'.
"I thought you were going to tell me when I agreed to be your mate!" She yelled, crossing her arms and sitting on her bed.
"Oh, that? Don't fuss so much; I did it when you were tired after we go back from a mission and were busy working on your novel so you weren't listening to me." The pink haired Dragon Slayer said, going back to his bottle of hot sauce.
Lucy face palmed. She remembered that mission: after she had come back to her apartment, Natsu had been pestering her so much that when he finally asked a yes or no question, she had automatically said yes so that he would shut up. Oh how she wished she had been more observant now.
"But that's just one of the last steps for a Dragon when they mate," Natsu stated, looking at the ceiling and snapping Lucy out of her reprieve. "First we have to make sure that they'll accept us for us; apparently bizarre appetite an all," he said with a very annoyed face: eating fire wasn't weird in the slightest.
"Next is to establish a bond with them. You're my nakama, my friend, and my love, Lucy, so that was no problem," he continued, oblivious to the furiously blushing Stellar Spirit mage behind him. "After making a bond, we need to claim them, publicly let everyone know who they belong to."
"And when did you do that!? The Guild found out today that I'm your mate! When did you do something like that?"
"When Gajeel and I fought during the war with Phantom (A/N: remember when they stripped during the fight? I'm putting that down to showing off for a potential mate, like some bird species do in the wild.). That iron-bastard, he was testing your resistance to his magic," Natsu said angrily, chugging the last of the hot sauce bottle.
"My...resistance to his magic?" Lucy asked confused, and hoping the salmon haired man in front of her would explain.
"A Dragon Slayer's mate has to have a certain amount of resistance to their magic so when they carry a child with the same destructive element, they won't be fatally injured." He explained, straight faced while the blonde woman blushed furiously.
Lucy pinched the bridge of her nose, knowing what she had to ask next. "And when the hell did you take it upon yourself to light me on fire...?"
"Hmm...during the S-class exams when we fought that Kain guy," Natsu answered honestly, staring at the girl in front of him, observing all the different facial expressions she was making. "But I'd tried to do it more times before, but you wouldn't let me," he whined childishly.
"So, Gajeel was testing his magic on me because he was thinking about claiming me as his mate back then?" Lucy asked, recalling the events of the Guild fight even though she was having a hard time believing the Iron Mage would do that. As for Natsu trying to light her on fire on multiple occasions...she was just going to ignore that for now. "I seriously never would have thought was interested in me,"
Natsu growled, not liking what as being implied in Lucy's words one bit. Possessively, he grabbed the blonde around the waist and into his lap, causing her to squeak in alarm at the unexpected action. "You aren't his mate and you never will be; you're mine and mine only, Lucy," he said huskily, bringing her lips to his in their first kiss where he wasn't controlled by his instincts...and it somehow turned into a full make-out session.
"So...am I forgiven, Lucy?" Natsu asked the girl in his arms as she looked at him in confusion.
"What do you need to be forgiven for, Natsu?" She questioned, smiling gently, finding his guilty expression very cute.
"Weren't you mad at me for making you my mate without permission?"
"Hmm..." Lucy said in mock seriousness, a devious plan forming in her mind. "I remember no such event; I agreed to it whole heartedly," and with that, she kissed a beaming Natsu on the lips again, only this time, she tugged at the magic lacryma around his neck.
In his inner world, Natsu had to chuckle to his self; she felt like playing with fire, did she? Who was he to not oblige to the desires of himself and his woman?
Without a second though, he ripped off the necklace, tossing it over his shoulder.
˚ˣ˚ˣ˚ˣ˚ˣ˚ WITH LEVY AND GAJEEL ˚ˣ˚ˣ˚ˣ˚ˣ˚
At the same time as when Lucy was placing her lacryma on Natsu's neck (which was now MIA), Levy was doing the same to Gajeel. Much like the fire Mage, as soon as he was able to, he smashed the ice binding his mouth to pieces before proceeding to carry Levy out of the Guild against her will. And none of their Guild-mates tried to stop the two guys as they did so. In fact, they restrained Happy, Jet, and Droy from following, knowing what was likely going to happen as soon as the couples got somewhere private.
"Where are we going, Gajeel?" Levy sighed, giving up on her attempt of breaking free, knowing by now that she'd never be able to manage it. She hadn't seen Lucy since Natsu had carted her off, but she assumed her situation was much the same as her own right now.
"A place where we can talk, Shrimp," came his gruff reply as he continued walking, readjusting his hold on her.
"You know that I can walk on my own right?"
"And risk you running away? I ain't an idiot," He scoffed, walking a bit faster than before.
His comment caused for a flash of hurt in Levy's chest. Did he really not trust her that much? If he was acting like this because she had tried to escape before, that was because she was afraid he was going to do something that he would regret later if she didn't do something.
For the rest of the time when they walked, it was silent. The only thing to be heard by the two was Gajeel's foot steps, and the gossiping towns women who were staring at them. And just like Lucy, Levy's face turned a bright shade of pink and red. She attempted to hide herself behind the feather decorations he had on one of his shoulders.
Gajeel knew she was probably flustered by all the stares people were giving her, so he grinned to himself when she tried use the accessory on his shoulder to hide from view. Deciding to take advantage of the fact that (in his mind) she was depending on him to shield her from the eyes of others (which she was, in a way), he quickly and suddenly ducked into an alley way.
"G-Gajeel! What are you doing!?" Levy asked, startled at the sudden change of pace and direction, though she was glad to be out of view from the smug view of old women.
"I'm running, what else woman?"
"I can see that, but why are you running?" Levy managed to grunt, her stomach being dug out by the Iron Mage's shoulder which made it hard to breath let alone talk.
"Because it's making things more interesting," Gajeel replied, lowering the lurch in his gait to make it easier on the blue haired girl.
"Huh? Weren't you taking me to your place or something? But why are you running through all these alleys?"
For a moment, Gajeel couldn't think of anything to say for an answer. Curse having a smart mate; just when he got her start talking again, he doesn't know how to answer because he doesn't know it that well himself. He just felt like going this way.
Luckily, he reached the back door of his house before he was required to input his part of the conversation. Kicking open the door, he marched in and deposited the Solid Script Mage on a black leather couch before he sat on the concrete floor in front of her.
Looking around the new space she was in, Levy assumed this was where Gajeel lived. While the house itself wasn't very special, but the amount of metal work in the single room they were in attested to the type of person who lived there. From the metal book shelves (that weren't filled with books...which Levy would soon work on), metal coffee table, metal door, metal rug...that last one didn't make much sense, but it was there all the same.
"Is this where you live?" Levy wondered aloud, looking around and examining into the smaller details. There was an intricately made bed for Lily in the cat's own corner, a precious few picture frames around the room, and the Fairy Tail Guild emblem on the wall closest to the Guild.
"Well, I'm sure the owner won't be comin' around for a bit at least," the black haired man smiled crookedly.
Levy giggled softly, before examining the home owner with analytical eyes instead of the room. "When did you ask me, Gajeel?" She finally inquired, tilting her head slightly as Gajeel's already crooked smirk grew until it dominated his features.
"Remember that book I got ya outta the blue one day? It was while you were busy squealing over it," he cackled as a look of comprehension dawned on her face, then embarrassed irritation.
"I should have known it had strings attached..." Levy pouted, folding her arms over her chest. "Not that I really mind now though..." She added as almost an after thought, not noticing she had said it until Gajeel stopped laughing and gave her a Look. It wasn't a Look that said 'go jump in an acid puddle' or 'another step closer, and I will shove iron up your ass' look he sometimes gave people, but it was one that she had seen before.
When he wasn't wearing the lacryma amulet.
Suddenly, before Levy could react, Gajeel had swooped her into a passionate kiss, getting from the floor to nearly on top of her in a matter of milliseconds. Levy resisted at first, but then gave in kissed him back with equal passion.
Gajeel broke away for air first, leaving them both panting for the oxygen they had been deprived of for more than a minute of. He smirked "So you really do like me then, Levy?"
It did not go unnoticed by her that he used her actual name, and not one of the nicknames he normally assigned her. She blushed heavily.
But before they could kiss again, Gajeel's stomach growled, causing him to curse and blush. "Haven't had a thing to eat all day," he complained, and Levy giggled. As much as she was enjoying the look on his face, which she had never seen before, she didn't want the moment to end yet.
Boldly reaching up, she tugged the amulet chain her best friend had been unsure of wither to get. She smiled coyly at the Iron Mage above her, before saying "How about you eat the metal chain around your neck, hmm? I'm sure we can find something else to secure the lacryma later..."
Gajeel grinned hugely, then ripped the necklace off and slurping the chain up like a piece of spaghetti. Casually tossing the now unsecured stone onto the table, his eyes regained the unique redness from earlier that day.
˚ˣ˚ˣ˚ˣ˚ˣ˚ BACK AT THE GUILD ˚ˣ˚ˣ˚ˣ˚ˣ˚
"Mira~!" A bipedal blue cat whined, hover above the head of a certain white haired bar tender, tears streaming from his eyes. "Why can't I go with Natsu!?"
"Happy, he and Lucy are probably...erm...busy at the moment and wouldn't want you to interrupt," the Take Over Mage tried to explain, soothing the feline says he wept into her chest.
"Is that why Lily didn't leave with Gajeel as well?"
"Errm...yes? So that's why the two of you are going to be staying over at Wendy's place for a few days, okay? I'll help you get a fish ready for Carla," Mira promised.
"YATTA! Lets get her the fish!"
And with that, I give to you the longest chapter yet. And yes, by that I do mean to imply that there will be more chapters to come.
For those of you that still have a problem with how I wrote these characters, then you do know I'm not exactly forcing you at knife point to read this right?
For those of you who had no problem with this, then please review for me like always!
