CHAPTER 4

"Checkmate." The words rolled off of this dangerous girl's tongue like venom, poisoning everyone around her with intimidated chills.

Natsu stared at her for a moment, unsure as to what exactly she thought that meant. Slowly, his onyx gaze went down to the board where he found his black King laying on the board as her Queen stood proudly. "And here you said you've never played." He grinned darkly, gently wrapping his finger around his ebony game piece. "Though, it's clear you do."

The blonde stared at the gang leader's whose eyes matched her enticingly mystic gaze, intriguing the young girl all the more. "Manipulation." The single word sent a wave of shivers down everyone's spine, causing Natsu's grin to spread even further. She narrowed her eyes, her brown stare suddenly darkening in this ominous glow. Extending her arm, she wrapped her fingers around the Queen leaning over the board, her face temptingly close to the pink-haired boy. "Deception." She grinned sinisterly, placing the end of her white fragment underneath Natsu's chin, pulling the seduced male closer. "Seduction." Lucy bit her lip, slowly pulling away from him, leaving the leader thirsting for much more. "I told you once that you don't understand the point of a game." The blonde sat on the game board, crossing her legs in an alluring position, "Those three tactics are vital if you wish to win."

Natsu smirked, lifting his brow, "To be a liar? That is the point of a game?"

The comment seemed to make her chuckle, her eyes staring at the Queen that was being rolled between her fingers. "To crush your enemies, that is the point of a game." Lucy tuRned her eyes to the chess board she was seated upon and viewed the pawns that still stood up proudly. Slowly, she began to move Natsu's black pieces onto her side, "To steal their power." A frown sank into her lips as she looked mercilessly at the new soldiers added to her small army. Her hands instantly flicked all of the black pieces off of the board, some flying into the dazed spectators. "Because you see, the prize is merely only a small part of the ending and in order to get to it, you must destroy those who wish for the same goal." She lifted her Queen, rolling it over her pink lips, "Until the only ones left standing are you and your pawns. The real goal is not the original prize of the game... it is the power you gain."

"Don't you suppose at one point your little way of playing will end up breaking the rules?" He grinned, completely captivated by her sinful words.

She lifted both brows, still looking to the board with an infernal gaze, "The board was not made with rules to follow, it was made with rules which you can bend to wrap around your strategies. Rules to keep your opponent in line as you surrounded him in a circle." A grin appeared on her serious face as she looked to his King seated within his grasp, "Chess says that the King is the most vital piece in chess and that is what makes it so completely vulnerable." She held up her white monarch with an amused hum, "Yet the Queen is the most powerful piece on this board. In my eyes, the Queen is the ruler of this board. Of the King and her pawns. And as soon as you find a Queen who knows exactly how to play this small game of yours... well..." She chuckled, her enticing gaze, which held such threat... such danger..., was narrowed onto Natsu. "...That's when you're in trouble, Mr. Gang Leader."

Natsu was completely captivated by this blonde creature who sat before him. He leaned back into his throne with a smirk, "You seem to know a lot about this twisted version of the game.

She lifted a brow and her dark grin deepened, "That's because I play on a board much different than this one," She leaned in, their faces but a kiss away which nearly made the pink-hired leader go mad with lust, "One where rules only exist to the stupid and the villain always gets a happy ending." Her fingers moved slowly over Natsu's hands, making him shudder, his grip slowly unraveling. She grabbed onto his King piece and grinned, moving away before the completely enthralled boy could ravish her. Smiling, she pounced off of the board and held up his black King, "Welcome to my game, Mr. Dragneel."

Sting and Loke were leaned over their bean bags with a dangerous amount of blood pouring from their noses, creating a pool of red beneath them. The others watched in absolute... amazement? Or perhaps it was fear or intimidation? Or maybe it amusement? Or a mixture of all four?

"Be careful who you challenge, Miss Heartfilia." Natsu stood up as his blonde mistress began to leave, a completely intrigued grin melting onto his lips, His fingers wrapped aorund her white Queen that was still seated on the chess board and his eyes gazed after it. "Now that I've found you, don't think I'll let you escape my board completely."

Lucy paused right before she left the building and let out a small chuckle. She turned around with her eyes full of that familiar, innocent glow and a smile that could purify demons. "I would be careful of who you let in," she tilted her head with a giggle, "Especially those who you know very little of."

"Then teach me everything about you." Natsu spoke with seductive eyes, "Body and mind."

The blonde turned around to the exiting door with a small hum, "Mmm... that will be impossible." She turned her head to give him one last virtuous smile, "Or else, this little 'board' of yours will be painted in only black." She walked out of the door, "And you will never be able to play again."

And then she was gone.

And the entire base was left in silence.

Natsu stared at the doorway with captivated eyes as his teeth bite the lips of his grin. He looked down to the game board and let out a laugh, "Stupid girl." He placed the Queen in the middle of the table, "You've only tempted me further."

Cana chuckled at Natsu who was holding such a wide grin as though he were playing the most exciting game of his life. "Who knew the heartless Natsu Dragneel could look so deeply entertained?"

The pink hired leader sat back into his throne, replaying the words of the blonde angel who only moments ago stood before him with her true demonic form. "She's mine." He looked to his gang members who all sat, still trying to figure out what exactly just happened. "Find out everything you can about her."

Gajeel grabbed the lusty ginger by the collar and threw him forward, "Loke's got some shit on her already."

Natsu looked down to his friend with a dark, ruling glare, "I wouldn't play that guessing shit with me." He stood glowing like some villainous King which made Loke gulp, "So... tell me everything."

The ginger looked around for a moment to his friends who were all chuckling - taking pride in the fact that this smart-ass was finally getting his well-deserved karma. Slowly, he picked himself up from the ground into a standing position where he attempted to gain a more sophisticated look. "Well..." He cleared his throat, closing his eyes as he began to think, "I suppose I shall start with her family. I am sure the Dragneel family is relatively familiar with the Heartfilias in some way?"

Natsu yawned, leaning on his palm, "Considering the high social ranking they and my family hold, it would be impossible for us not to know of them."

Loke pushed up his glasses with a grin, "Well, I'm am not too familiar with the entire Heartfilia story but, I do have pieces. I guess I should ask if you are aware of their reputation?"

"Reputation?" Natsu leaned forward a bit, "Society considers them the 'perfect family.' Or so I've heard. Unlike most businesses, they don't commit illegal acts."

"Or don't get caught doing it."Loke grinned, his glasses shining with the shocking sentence. Natsu's attention was now fully on the ginger genius, "Their widely known reputation is the 'perfection' ratio. But, in the small law Universe, they are widely known for their deception." Everyone leaned in more, having this small mystery grow more and more intriguing. "None of us know how exactly the Heartfilias do it. Their record is clean. Every single accusation held against them in court has never had enough or any evidence to support it. Of course, their family is smart, perhaps one of the smartest in the world." He looked to Natsu with dark eyes, "But, recently another rumor has sprouted. Jude is known for being deceitful but, for most of the crimes claimed against him, there is no way just simple words or bribes could get him off. And in some cases, it would be impossible for him to cover up the evidence if there was any in the first place."

Natsu lifted a brow, tapping his lips, "So? They probably didn't do it. It's not shocking to see people going after such a powerful family."

"Or the Heartfilias have a secret card." The sentence made the air grow thick with silence. Loke grinned, his eyes holding a glorious, mischevious glow, "Someone who works underneath the surface. Someone who is the evidence."

"What the fuck does that mean?" Natsu growled, hating this word game Loke plays.

The brilliant orange-haired boy chuckled, "For year it had been thought that Jude was the deceiver, that he was running this whole show. But my family has another hypothesis. Perhaps that image was another deception. The reason why this man is never guilty is because he is innocent."

"Are you saying somebody else commits these crimes?" Cana asked, leaning back in her chair.

Loke shook his head, "Not that simply. Innocence is merely a mask. It does not mean you aren't guilty, just the charges against him were wrong. By what I've seen today, I can only conclude that our hypothesis is correct." He grinned, "I suppose I will explain this in a way you will understand. A chess board stands for the crime, the pawns stand for the lawyers, and Jude is the King. In the game of chess, the king is considered the leader of this 'board,' the one who holds all the power - aka the blame. Yet what we over look is the most powerful piece. The Queen. We all see the King as the reigning piece when in reality... we have been going after the wrong one. The one who holds all of the destruction, who really controls this board is the Queen." Loke looked to Natsu who widened his eyes in realization, "The real culprit in the Heartfilia family, is Lucy. The lead deceiver. The ruling piece." He grinned at the widened eyes all around him, "What Lucy said today gave you more of a hint into her little mysterious being than you realized."

"Well... fuck me." Cana let out a laugh as she stood in shock as well as impressment.

"Jude may be giving the commands but Lucy is the one who controls the outcome." He chuckled, "Which one is the true leader of this little 'board' is beyond me."

"What a dangerous bitch." Gray let out a laugh, "Sorry to break it to you Natsu, but this chick is way out of your skill level."

The leader just looked at the board, the image of Lucy filling his mind. Her soft and sweet smile then her dark and threatening grin. "Which one is the real one?" He sighed, looking at the Queen, "She says she's the white piece yet she threatened that she'd turn the board black." Slowly, his fingers went into the side of his jacket, pulling out a pack of cigarettes from the inner pocket. Erza tossed him a lighter which he easily caught, igniting the cancerous substance between his lips. He blew out a gray cloud, "Loke, you won't speak of this 'discovery' of yours with anyone. Lucy's secret is ours too, got it?"

The ginger nodded with a grin, "Yes, your highness."

Natsu rolled his eyes at the sarcastic comment, studying the board before him. He wasn't interested in 'winning.' Nor was he anywhere near as interested in her little deceiving personality. He just wanted... to know. About her.

A strange desire to have to say the least.

. . .

Within the sunlit halls of Magnolia Academy, stood the two gorgeous girls, Lucy and Levy, walking down the locker-filled path. "I got your note and your text." The bluenette reassured her blonde friend who merely shrugged off the lie she told and smiled brightly.

"Life becomes hectic sometimes as an heiress." Lucy sighed, "I really am sorry. I didn't realize I'd have to leave."

Levy smiled, feeling happy just by seeing Lucy's joyous face, "It's fine! It must be hard being apart of the famous 'perfect' Heartfilia family! I can't imagine what you have to go through to keep that title."

Even though bluenette meant it with as much kindness as her large heart could offer, the comment made a small amount of darkness flash in Lucy's eyes. But too fast for one to actually notice.

Their footsteps had led them to another blue haired girl, one who was much taller and bustier than the President. "Juvia!" Levy smiled, "This is the new student I was talking about. This is Lucy."

Juvia looked at the blonde up and down with a skeptical frown. Slowly, a warm smile appeared on Lucy's lips, "Juvia Lockheart? Your family is the owner of the local water park, correct?" Lucy held out her hands with a giggle, "I used to visit it during the summers when I was very small. Thanks to your family, I lived through very fun summers."

The blunette lifted her eyebrows at how nice and perfect her words are, "They don't fuck around when they say you're the daughter of the perfect Heartfilia family." She took the blonde's hand with a laugh, "You're pretty good with making people like you."

"It's the basics for being an appropriate heiress." Lucy spoke with a kind and soothing voice which almost make Juvia fall head over heels for the chick - you know, if she swung that way of course.

Levy sighed, "I'm sorry for Juvia's absurd mouth." She covered the blunettes mouth before she could spout more vulgar words, "It's a bad habit of hers."

The trio began to walk down the corridor as Lucy responded with a light chuckle, "I am quite used to it-"

Her sentence was cut short by the sudden obnoxious screaming of love-struck girls. As Lucy remained bewildered, her two blue-haired companions merely rolled their eyes, fully aware as to what the source of this chaos was. "Fucking hell." Juvia spat, "They act like this doesn't happen every damn day."

"What?" Lucy tilted her head confused, seeing as the girls in the hallway started to make a crowd over whatever was causing their ovaries to explode.

"Fairy Tail." Levy ground her teeth in agitation as did Juvia, both emitting a heavy amount of hate.

Lucy lifted a brow, chuckling to herself as to how much power this single gang had over the school. Slowly, three bodies came from the crowd of girls, Gray, Gajeel, and Natsu. It seemed the girls were basically clinging themselves to the pink-haired leader, making Lucy nearly cover her mouth to hide her laughter.

Levy sighed, "I wonder which poor soul is the victim to Natsu's 'Lunch' session."

Juvia leaned into Lucy with a whisper, "That means fuck session."

The president slammed her elbow into Juvia's side with an annoyed switch of her eyebrow, "Thank you Juvia."

The blonde watched as her gaze immediately met Natsu's, the three boys's paths instantly heading towards her. The two bluenettes widened their eyes at the sudden change of course and started to back up into the wall as Lucy remained in her same place, not intimated an inch by these schoolboys.

"Oh..." Gray's eyes suddenly narrowed seductively onto Juvia, "Juvia... it's been awhile since my favorite girl has come to play."

That seemed to agitate the busty girl, "Fuck off pervert." She slapped the raven-haired boy, making Lucy's eyebrows lift with a whistle, "We fucked once. I don't make the same mistake twice."

"You still like it rough huh?" Gray leaned in with a grin, making Juvia hiss.

Levy went to stick up for her blue-haired friend but her path was blocked by Gajeel. "Sup, Pres?" He grinned, filling Levy with an endless amount of chills.

Lucy leaned over Levy, filling Gajeel's gaze, "Is there something that you boys need? Or did you come to embarrass yourselves with rejection?"

Gray and Gajeel exchanged a glance, knowing better than to get into an argument with this lying bitch. Quickly, the two backed up as Natsu walked forward, grinning at his blonde prey. "You've gotten more ballsy with your words." He chuckled, "Are you comfortable with us already?"

Lucy looked to Levy who was frightened and confused and the blonde swallowed, looking to Natsu with an innocent gaze. "Please leave me alone." She shut her eyes, shocking Natsu a bit, "I told you I don't want to talk to you. I hate criminals like you!"

Natsu blinked, thoroughly confused by the sudden change of character. His eyes drifted over to Levy who was basically shaking in her shoes and that's when he caught on. He grinned a bit at how convincing this blonde could be with her lies and he leaned in, his lips grazing her ear with a whisper, "Come by 3-A, Miss Liar."

The blonde lifted a brow, a bit interested in what exactly his next move was but instantly returned to a quivering coward as he backed up. Gray and Gajeel gave the blonde a chuckle making her sigh at the fact she was stupid enough to show them her true colors. Or at least her black color.

As the trio left, the crowd of girls followed them, each giving Lucy a jealous glare before continuing to fawn over the males. Levy and Juvia instantly went to aid their blonde friend, "Are you okay?" The president spoke with pure concern laced in her shaky voice, "What did he say to you?"

Lucy smiled, slowly regaining herself, "I'm fine..." She let out a relieved sigh, "Thank you."

Juvia checked the blonde one more time before looking up to the boys who were walking away with murderous scowl, "Damn them. Picking on the new girl, that's just like that pin-haired scumbag."

A silent chuckle came from her lips of which the two didn't notice. Picking on me? She looked after the gang leader, It's the other way around.

As the two girls looked back to Lucy, she put back on her innocent, weak facade and brushed herself off, "It looks like I'm already late." She sighed and smiled at Levy, "I'm sorry, I told a teacher I'd come in to catch up."

The petite bluenette pat her on the back with a proud grin, "It's fine. I've got some student council stuff to do and Juvia has swimming captain duties. Have fun."

Lucy nodded and turned around, walking down the corridor, her smile molding into one much darker. She ran the different scenarios as to what would happen when she would walk in. Would he rape her? Threaten her? Play another game? Beg her to be his? What would this foolish boy do next?

She hadn't felt so excited in such a long time.

After three flights of stairs, she'd made it to the forbidden classroom which held an interesting gang. She didn't hesitate and opened the door, greeted with the dark aura of these killing teens who all sat in a different part of the room. Lucy chuckled a bit, studying the teens who paid no attention to her, "Quite the intimidating room to walk into." She looked to the gang members who almost had the look of demons.

Natsu looked up to her, the others following soon after, all with a chuckle, "Walking casually into the lair of a lethal gang, I don't know if that is courage or pure ignorance."

The blonde grinned at him and leaned back onto the teacher's desk, "Considering the first time we met, you were on the ground half-conscious, your intimidation does not affect me."

The members stifled their laughter, imagining the Natsu Dragneel being beaten half to death and then saved by this chick. The pink haired leader merely tilted his head with a smirk, "Then I assume my next offer will be easy to accept then?"

Lucy lifted a brow, not expecting an... "offer." She chuckled, amused at how she was caught off guard. "That all depends on the details."

It seemed everyone was now staring at her, their eyes holding the bloody gaze of a tainted criminal. They all grinned as Natsu opened his mouth, his eyes glowing with a darkness that only intrigued her, "Join Fairy Tail."

Hi there.

So I had no idea where I was going with this story. I have bits a pieces but the actual plot was hard to tie in but now I sort of have it. Due to your desperate want for me to upload, I wrote this and only this, I didn't revise it like I normally do so it's probably a little shittier than normal.

But I don't really care, it ties into the plot soooo... :)

Sorry for the long wait but I do have stuff in the real world to deal with. And my focus is on Soft Storm and I barely have time for even that. But I'm on Winter Break right now and am alone in my apartment so, I have no distractions. Which is good news :)

This story takes a lot of thinking. A lot. So it's a lot harder and takes a lot of time to write and think up. Especially ways to deceive people since I'm not exactly a huge liar myself nor am I a genius like Miss Lucy. So please give me patience. It's easier to write Soft Storm because it requires more thought on the plot and emotion while this is all psychological and symbolic and everything means something so it requires massive brain power.

Anyway, I hope I upload sooner but no promises. I won't give up this story or any story I write so don't ever think I will. Even if I don't upload for a month or two, it's probably just because I have personal things to deal with that are taking up my time.

Thank you for reading. Please leave reviews, they are really nice to read and encourage me a lot. That's it for now! Farewell lovelies!

~Lovex1