Celeste let out a loud yawn before stretching her arms above her head. Rubbing her eyes tiredly, she moved the covers off her body and padded across her carpeted floor and towards the door, where a warm aroma of food filled the air. The hallways chirped with hushed chatter, careful not to wake any of the late risers from their slumber, if only for a little bit. Still feeling a little groggy, Celeste carefully made her way towards the stairs, gripping the hand railing tightly so she wouldn't trip and fall to her death.
"Lucy!" Celeste turned her head quickly, her ears perking up at the sound of her name being called. Looking down slightly, the blonde smiled at the petite blue haired woman, her childlike features perking up at the sight of the blonde.
"You're up awfully early," the shoulder length blunette mused before letting out a small giggle, "Well, early for you, Lulu" the wavy haired woman finished, surprised to see her closest friend up for lunch; something the blonde hardly wakes up in time for.
"Is it?" Lucy yawned, unaware of the time. The blunette nodded, her sky blue hair swaying with the movement as she slightly adjusted her customary orange bandana.
"Yup. Finally found a guy that could knock you out," the blue haired woman teased, her brown eyes shining with mirth. Thinking back the the night earlier, Lucy felt a light blush creep up her pale cheeks, suddenly embarrassed.
"I saw that, Lulu! Could this one be 'the one' you've been dreaming of for so long." The blush darkened even more now, making the blonde almost resemble a bright tomato.
"No no no no no," Lucy protested quickly, trying to calm her inflamed cheeks. "It wasn't like that, Levy. Natsu's just a friend," the blonde finished quickly, realizing her mistake as the blunette began to grin widely.
"Oh ho ho, now's who this Natsu character that's has you so flustered." The busty blonde gaped at her petite friend, trying to come up with an answer for the grinning youth before her. Luckily, a grumpy brunette interrupted the two before she could come up with an answer.
"Are you two going to stand there all day? Can you two at least move out of the way? I need to drink something alcoholic before I can even think of functioning properly," the curvy brunette groaned, her bare foot tapping a little impatiently as she gave a loud yawn.
"Save the chit chat for the dinner table, cause I definitely want to hear this little bit of gossip," the brown haired woman grinned, slipping past the two as she continued down the hard marble steps. Lucy let out a groan as she and Levy followed the swaying brunette, completely dreading the chat she was about to have with practically all of the women of Fairy Tail.
Taking in all the scents of the food place out before her, Lucy grabbed a plate and grabbed what was left on the aisle lined with food. Once gathering enough food, the blonde looked around the room, trying to spot a free spot.
"Oh Lulu!" Levy sang, waving her slender arm in the air, trying to catch the blonde's attention. Flinching in response, Lucy tried to spot another free spot, hoping to find one before the petite blue haired could pry out any information from her. Startled, Lucy jumped as a slender arm locked with hers, almost dropping her plate of food in the process.
"Don't think you could run away that fast," the brunette woman from earlier sang with a bright smile, the smell of alcohol already on her lips. With a dejected sigh, Lucy followed the long haired brunette, already knowing she couldn't get out of this one.
Taking a seat in the only available chair in the area, Lucy tried avoiding any eye contact as she nervously nibbled the food prepared. She could practically feel all eyes from the table on her, but she wouldn't look up; perhaps they even forgot and was just staring at her because she was up a bit early.
"So, anything you want to tell us? I heard from a certain someone that our own little song bird may have a bit of a crush on a certain customer," the wavy haired brunette practically shouted, a jug of alcohol swaying in her firm grasp.
"What's this about a crush? Cana, tell us what you know," a stern female voice stated firmly, directing her question to the brunette, her form almost bouncing with eagerness at the hint of gossip.
"Don't look at me, Lucy's the one holdin all the details. Maybe you'd have a better chance at pryin it outa her, Erza." Lucy's eyes practically bugged out at the mention of the scarlet haired woman, her hand shaking slightly in fear as the scarlet haired woman snapped her head towards the blonde and slammed her hands to the table, catching the attention from all the other women in the room.
"Is this true, Lucy? Are you in a love relationship?" Lucy flinched as she shakily looked up into sparkling brown eyes. Knowing that there was absolutely no way out of it, Lucy nodded a bit shakily, sending a glare towards the giggling blue haired woman to her right.
"I mean no," Lucy sputtered, waving her arms wildly as she tried to correct herself. "He just talked to me, that's all. There's no way I could fall for him," Lucy protested, earning knowing nods from the surrounding women.
"Denial," Levy muttered towards the women, speaking over the protesting blonde.
"Hey Lulu, didn't you say his name was Natsu? Well, was he at least decent looking? He must have been if he was able to capture your attention for so long, especially if it was only to talk," Levy concluded, sending the embarrassed blonde a small teasing smirk. Upon hearing the name Natsu, a certain silver haired woman perked up, a slightly strained expression pinched her features as she made her way towards the group of women.
"He was very handsome," Lucy admitted, the blush on her cheeks growing, "but he had some strange pink hair, I've never seen a man have such a color. You don't think he dyed it, do you?" Lucy mussed, now curious with the man's hair color. Once hearing about the man's hair color, the silver haired woman's suspicions were confirmed, glancing over to her left quickly, making eye contact with a pair of bright blue eyes similar to her own, the owner gave a slight nod to the silver haired woman, confirming her suspicions even more.
"Afternoon, ladies," the blue eyed beauty beamed, moving closer to the chattering group. "What's going on?" she asked, standing near Cana as she subtly glanced in the blonde's direction.
"Nothing much, Mirajane," Lucy mumbled, hoping the mistress of Fairy Tail wouldn't begin to pry, but it was already too late.
"Yup, nothing but Lulu telling us about this guy who paid for the night only to talk," Levy pipped in, barely able to contain herself. The blue eyed woman perked up at the new bit of information.
"Oh, I was certain Gray was going to try and ravish you for the night," Mirajane questioned, a bit curious as to why the man Lucy mentioned wasn't the same man that usually frequented their nightclub. Upon hearing her sort of lover's name, Juvia perked up, her deep blue eyes gleaming happily until they clouded with anger, then confusion.
"Juvia is confused, Mr. Fullbuster was with Juvia almost all night. Juvia is certain it was Mr. Fullbuster's friend Natsu who stayed with Lucy that night. Unless, do you plan to steal Mr. Fullbuster from Juvia!" the long blue haired woman snapped, her pale hands clutching her eating utensils angrily as she shot the confused blonde a heated look.
"No no no, Juvia. I'm not trying to steal Gray," Lucy said, trying to pacify the enraged blue haired woman.
"Wait, Juvia. Did you say he was Gray's friend?" Levy question, managing to catch that little bit of information. Juvia nodded once she managed to calm down.
"Yes, Juvia did not hear as much, but Mr. Fullbuster mentioned he had purchased Lucy last night for Natsu as a sort of gift," the woman at the table nodded at the explanation, accepting the words without any disagreement.
"I believe we are a bit off topic," Erza stated, tying back her long scarlet colored hair into a high ponytail. "Was this not about Lucy and what had happened with this Natsu character." Mirajane clapped her hands excitedly, always enjoying whatever piece of gossip she could get her hands on.
"Oh yes yes. Lucy, why don't you tell us what happened. Didn't you try to seduce him like any other customer?" Lucy nodded embarrassedly, fidgeting with the hem of her long night shirt.
"I did," Lucy stated before she was interrupted by a loud Cana.
"So, were ya actually gunna bang him? Since he was so handsome and all," Cana laughed, exaggerating the word handsome. Levy tittered a muffled laughter as the blonde grew redder and redder with each passing second.
"Now now ladies, we shouldn't ask about each others sex lives. I'm sure everyone has a few interesting stories. Isn't that right, Levy?" Mirajane stated, a teasing smile painted on her face. Levy stopped laughing and sunk a little deeper into her seat, a light flush staining her cheeks, which caused Canan to laugh even louder at the sight of the reddening women. Wide eyed, Erza couldn't help but glance at Levy every now and then, surprised that the normally shy maiden may have been very sexually active.
"So, you were saying," Mirajane said with a bright smile, directing the conversation back to Lucy once more.
"Oh, right. So after trying to seduce him, you know, same old same old. He suddenly pushes me off and avoids my advances. It turns out he's getting married, which isn't really new with this line of work," Lucy said with a hint of bitterness, earning nods of agreement from the women around her. "Thinking this was just a ploy of remorse, I continued my advance, but then he stopped me again. In the end, he suggested we just talk since Gray already paid for the night anyways," Lucy finished with a casual wave of her hand, quickly returning to her food without another word. With a bit of a sigh from the surrounding women, they reluctantly went back to their meal as the silver haired mistress walked away from the group and towards the bar area, where a very tall man stood, rubbing at the small shot glasses with a clean rag, his large hands strangely handling the small glasses very delicately.
"I assume you heard all of that," Mirajane murmured, letting only the man before her able to hear. The bright silver haired man nodded slightly, letting only the mistress able to see his answer as he set the glass onto a shelf and grabbed another in its stead.
"Sounds like the same one to me, Mira. So what are you going to do?" the deep tone of the man rumbled slightly, his bright blue eyes glancing down at his older sister with concern.
"Well he isn't technically cheating on her, and this is a place of secrets," Mira sighed, tapping her fingers against the polished counter, the soft beating easing the silver haired beauty. "This is how things go, we're bound to hold many secrets, so what's one more?" Mira stated with a sad expression on her youthful face. With a frown of his own, the man's arms flexed under his deep blue jacket, straining against the already tight material.
"That isn't very manly," the large tan man muttered, switching the glass for a new one as he continued polishing the shot glasses. Mira chuckled lightly at her brother's words, a smile already lighting up her bright eyes.
"Everything is all about being manly with you isn't it, Elfman," Mira said with a bright smile on her face, happy for the normalcy that surrounded her younger brother.
Everything was going according to schedule. By now all of the performers were awake and ready to plan for their entertainment performance for the night. All of the women split up into different chore groups, cleaning up the last bits of lunch before allowed to practice and plan.
Erza was just making her rounds with the garbage duty she was forced to take for that day. With a large garbage bag in each hand, the scarlet haired performer, threw the two bags into the large dumpster with ease. Brushing her hands together, the performer was about to make her way back to the nightclub, but froze at the sound of a light groan coming from the alley way. Curious, Erza walked towards the area without a hint of fear. Turning the corner, Erza was met by a surprising sight. Startled, Erza clasped her hands against her mouth, her brown eyes widening at the sight.
Mira beamed a smile towards the hard working women; things were running along swimmingly. The dance area was cleared of the extra tables pulled out for lunch, all extra food was placed back in the kitchen area, and the dishes were just about done; all that was left was waiting for Erza and her garbage run. Sitting at the foot of the stairs, Mira sat patiently as the performers made themselves comfortable and sat down, waiting for the scarlet haired performer to finally come back.
With the bang of the front door slamming open, Mira gave a little wince, a bit surprised she didn't hear a crack in the glass door. Ready to scold Erza, Mira sharply turned towards the scarlet haired woman before letting out a gasp. In Erza's arms was someone bundled in a large ratty old jacket stained with dirt and grim. Small bone like legs peaked out from the coat, dangling over the performer's arm. The owner of the body was breathing deeply, her face gaunt from the lack of food as her deep blue hair hung almost lifelessly over the woman's other arm. The girl looked young, barely on the cusp of womanhood, with dirt and grime covering every inch of her skin.
"Someone fetch the girl some food! I need someone to help Erza give the girl a bath! Common ladies, we must help this young one, who knows how long she's been out on the streets without a decent meal," Mira shouted to the performers, her kind heart already going out to the mysterious girl. Automatically, the performers split up into different groups; some going off to find food, others following Erza up the stairs, while some even went searching for some type of clothing for the unfortunate girl. Before Mira could go off and contribute, a single white cat pawed at the glass door to the nightclub.
Curious, Mira made her way towards the door and peered the cat. Like the girl, the cat was covered in dirt and grime, it's once white fur now a dark dark gray that borderlined black. Mira could tell the cat hasn't eaten for days, its ribs showing through the thin overlayer of fur. Sad brown eyes peered up into Mira's bright blue eyes as the cat let out a pitiful meow. Without giving it much thought, Mira opened the door a crack, letting the cat slip in before she went up towards the bathroom, knowing the dirtied girl was already there and in good hands. Behind Mira, the grayed cat followed with determination not usually found in cats, set in its large brown eyes.
Oh wow, another update. I'm spoiling you guys too much. I'm having so much fun writing for this story, wish I could say the same about my other story. I think I'm starting to neglect it, so hopefully I get something down for that. Updates are probably going to come much slower now that school starts back up tomorrow. Thank you guys so much for the support and the kind words you all left in the reviews. Sorry this has like no Nalu yet, I'm working on it, but it's hard. I hope this was enjoyable and that the characters were at least sort of in character. Thank you all again for the follows, favorites, and reviews. Couldn't do this without you guys. I'm open to any suggestions you all might have, so let me know. Leave a thought in the review box.
Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does, and I also don't own Moulin Rouge, which this was loosely based on. Upon reading Confound again, there's like nothing in common with this story, but a few aspects are based on some the story's ideas, like the entertainment joint in the lower area and the fact that they go by aliases, but that could go with any story, but I don't own Confound either.
On another note: guys, I'm like a bundle of uncontrolled feelings. It all started with Fairy Tail and it's latest chapter, I'm still shocked with it, then the latest episode, still gushing and so excited for the next ep. Then Saturday came and it all went downhill, Young Justice and Green Lantern the Animated Series, gah, all the sad feels. I'm still torn about it. Anyways, thanks for reading this A/N if you actually did.