Chapter 4: Celestial World
Lucy was having a hard time getting to sleep. Her mind was racing as she thought about Laxus. Question after question ran through her head, making sleep seem impossible. Did that count as a confession? What's going to happen" Should I say something to him?
"Puun~Puun!" Plue yelled sounding distressed. Lucy had unknowingly tightened her arms sround him while thinking about Laxus. She had started calling him out when she couldn't sleep and usually it had helped. Usually, but not tonight.
"Sorry Plue." Lucy released him and sat up. "Do you want to go for a jog?" Plue shook his head vehemently, obviously opposed to the idea. "Oh come on! Its not like I'm going to sleep much tonight anyways!" Plue still disagreed.
"Puuun!" Lucy was getting worried. PLue hand never disagreed with her so strongly before. "Please Plue? Maybe a short jog will make me tired enough to sleep. I promise to call Loke if anything happens." She begged, completely desperate at this point. Plue set his feet shoulder width apart and crossed his thin shaky arms over his chest, his face stayed completely serious.
"Pun." Lucy felt like a child being scolded by their parent. She'd never seen him so upset before! "Open! Gate of the Lion! Leo!"
With a puff of smoke, Loke appeared in the tent. "Hello Lucy, did you need me to keep you company tonight?" Lucy ignored his question.
"Can you come jog with me so Plue will stop worrying?" Lucy asked hating the idea of upsetting her spirit.
"Actually I cant do that." Lucy was about to protest but Loke held up his hand, quieting her so he could continue. "Plue here was told not to let you leave."
"Why not?"
"We found something important and the Spirit King wants to talk to you about it." Lucy began to worry.
"Of course not!" he denied. "When he found out that you were training he wanted to help you! With the time difference between the worlds it was… a bit.. Impossible to get to you until now. Pretty soon someone will come get you and take you away."
"How long will I be gone?" she asked not wanting to leave the boys behind.
"That depends."
"What about Gajeel and Laxus?"
"Don't worry, they can come too. Try and get some sleep." Loke left a distressed Lucy behind. She settled down on her makeshift bed and summoned Virgo.
"Punishment Princess?" Getting straight to the point Lucy responded quickly.
"Sure. As punishment I want you to get me some paper and a pen." Virgo left returning seconds later with the paper. "Thank you." Said Lucy, sending her back. Lucy started writing immediately, pouring her all into it. She wrote about everything, about Natsu, Esver, Laxus, Gajeel, this mystery item and once again Laxus. The letter lifted a huge weight from her shoulders and still grasping the pen, she finally drifted to sleep.
"—honestly don't know what to think. Who knows how long we'll be in the Spirit world. I don't want to miss out on too much time here."
Lucy heard a deep voice interrupting her sleep.
"I guess it's worth it if it will make me stronger."
Wait.
"After this the handwriting gets kinda sloppy."
"Well that's probably when she fell asleep."
What?
"So Laxus? You finally grew some balls and told her you liked her!"
Gajeel's loud voice woke Lucy. She sat up quickly, face bright red. Laxus and Gajeel sat across from each other, crowding the small tent. They were so focused discussing the content of her letter they hadn't noticed her yet.
"Who told you to read my letter?" she muttered, knowing they would hear her.
"We thought it would be a fun way to wake you up." Gajeel answered.
"Well who the hell told you to wake me up?" She demanded furiously. Leaning forward, she punched both boys square in the jaw, watching in satisfaction as they fell backwards.
"Damn!" Laxus laughed. "That hurt Lucy!" She froze as a thought occurred to her. Did he read what I wrote about him? Another voice interrupted her thoughts.
"Geez! Don't you know youre not supposed to hit your boyfriend? After all," Gajeel picked up the paper and began to read. "he's reall good looking and he's really nice (to me at least). I guess you could say I'm lucky to be stuck here with him."
Lucy stomped him on the stomach. "So, when's the wedding?" he continued to tease. Lucy straddled him, pinning him down, and continuously punched him in the head.
"Don't make fun of me!" she yelled, completely embarrassed. She and Gajeel had grown close and were almost like family at this point, and that meant that he loved to pick on her. And he was damned good at it too.
"Okay, Okay. That's enough." Laxus wrapped a thick arm aroung Lucy's waist pulling her off of Gajeel and setting her down onto the floor next to him. "Don't kill the guy." He joked while passing her a plate full of food. "We woke you up because you slept until lunch. Gajeel and I saved some for you. Ive got to admit, that was impressive; not many people can say they've knocked Gajeel out."
Lucy took a look at her friend sprawled out on the ground, face covered in bruises. She felt ashamed and regret for doing this to him. "Do you think I overreacted?"
"Not at all. You've finally picked a fight with a guildmate. Consider yourself an official member of Fairy Tail." She smiled now remembering the daily brawls that had taken place inside the guild.
"I'm already an official member idiot." She heard him chuckle beside her and began to eat. They were sitting so close that she felt his body shake as he laughed. She ate quickly trying to ignore it.
"When we get back," he paused. He had Lucy's full attention now that she had finished her food.
"What?" she asked.
"When we get back to Magnolia, I'm gonna take you out on a date."
Lucy couldn't think. He spoke with confidence as if he already knew she would agree. Deep breaths Lucy! Relax!
"There really isn't anything we could do out here that would pass for a date but since I already know how you feel about me…" he stared into her deep brown eyes, taking note of her reddened face. "I figured that for now I'd just start by calling you my girlfriend. That okay with you?"
Lucy sat there, unmoving and silent, seeming to have forgotten that he had asked her a question. "Lucy?" he asked nervously, bringing her back to reality. "Yeah. That's okay." She finally responded.
"So what are you gonna name the babies?" Gajeel asked from his position on the floor. Lucy surges forward, fist read to punch him again, only to be held back by a calm and composed Laxus. He seemed to be unaffected by the teasing.
"Orincess? It's time." Virgo appeared, calming her master down. Lucy stood up, shaking off Laxus , and faced her.
"Okay." Deep Breaths., she reminded herself. "Let's go."
Lucy found herself suddenly in front of a large mirror dressed in a short black dress with a white apron. Completely identical to Virgo. "Where are we?" She asked, never having been in any buildings in the Celestial World.
Virgo gave her a kind smile. "You're in my house. My assignment was to lend you some clothes." She pointed to a small stack of clothes that all looked similar to what she was currently wearing. "Scorpio was assigned to do the same for your friends."
"Well that's nice and all, but why do I need so many clothes?" Hearing Lucy's question, the spirit's eyes widened giving er the look of an overly excited child. Lucy couldn't recall ever seeing her like that, looking so happy.
"Youll be staying here for a few days to learn and practice. I've given you enough clothes to stay as long as you need to. It shouldn't be any more than two or three." Lucy desperately wanted to interrupt but Virgo spoke quickly in a way that left her no room to say anything.
"The item our King found will make you even more powerful than you already are. However, it can be very dangerous in the wrong hands or, in your case, untrained hands. You need to fully understand the level of power you'll be able to possess. Crux has an ancient book explaining it's uses and properties. Our King wants you to study it before he gives you the item."
Virgo bowed deeply, dismissing herself and walked out, leaving the door open signaling that she wanted Lucy to follow. She led Lucy to an open area where the party was held the first time Lucy came to the Spirit World.
"What's takin so long? Where the hell is she?" Lucy heard the boys yell before she saw them.
"They haven't yelled like that in months, they must be really annoyed." Lucy told Virgo.
"It's because they had to borrow Scorpio's clothes." The spirit answered, already knowing what was wrong. Lucy didn't understand why that would be so upsetting until she saw them. The two were dressed exactly like Scorpio. She had assumed that he would have some casual clothes lying around but she was wrong. Her friends each had a red strip of fabric wrapped around their waists and were, of course, topless. Lucy tried to stifle a laugh but the dragonslayers still heard it.
"I don't see what's so funny!" Gajeel pouted turning away, embarrassed.
"Yeah," Laxus joined in. "after all, you're dressed as a maid."
Before she was able to respond the Spirit King spoke to Lucy. "Welcome old friend! Please come closer." His voice boomed from his spot in the middle of a crowd of minor spirits who were all gathered in the area. Lucy walked towards him but as she passed Laxus he whispered quietly in her ear.
"I've always kinda wanted a maid…"
Lucy blushed deeply and picked up her pace towards the king. "I trust the situation has been explained?" He asked. Lucy nodded remembering how Virgo and Leo had put the pieces together for her.
"Yes. Something was found that could make me stronger but before I can use it I need to learn more about it." The Spirit King frowned.
"They haven't told you enough. Crux's book should help fill in the blanks. You'll be studying in one of the extra rooms in Crux's house in case you have any questions. Your friends can go with you." He added after a pause noting the scowl on Laxus' face. He just didn't want to leave her by herself with Loke an Taurus running around. "As long as they don't disturb you it should be fine. You need to focus."
Apparently, with that, they were dismissed. The trio followed Crux as he floated away. Eventually, they stopped in front of a somewhat large house. They went up to the second floor when Crux stopped in front of two doors. "You boys will have to share."
"That's fine." Gajeel responded before walking through the door Crux had gestured to and shutting the door.
"Lucy, in your room you will have all the information you're going to need. Please get started immediately." The spirit then left, leaving the new couple alone in the hallway. Lucy fumbled with her fingers, suddenly uncomfortable with Laxus. She had no idea what to say, if she should say anything at all. She'd only had one boyfriend before and he had almost killed her.
"Are you okay?" Laxus asked, noting her obvious discomfort.
"I'm fine." She replied quickly. "Goodnight." She walked into her room and shut the door behind her. Old memories were starting to flood her. She felt so guilty about what had happened with Laxus. After the incident with Taro she was finding it difficult to relax around him.
But why? She thought. Everything was fine in the tent? Maybe I just can't handle being close with him? She lost herself in thought for a few minutes so she could eventually refocus on what she was sent here to do.
Outside of her room, Laxus was left feeling confused and dejected. He entered his own room only to see a worried Gajeel waiting for him.
"What's up?" he asked trying to keep the embarrassment out of his voice. He wasn't stupid; he knew that Gajeel heard every awkward part of that conversation whether he wanted to or not. Enhanced hearing was just as much a curse as it was a blessing.
"About what happened with Lucy…" Gajeel started only to be cut off immediately.
"It's fine. She just doesn't like me as much as I assumed she did. I'll just have to wait and see if I grow in her a bit. " Laxus admitted sadly with a casual shrug, trying to play it off. He had obviously misunderstood what she had written in her letter. She liked him, just… not as much as he liked her.
"That's not it. A while back Lucy went through some serious shit that almost killed her. I think it still scares her."
"What are you talking about?" Laxus asked not understanding where he was going with this.
"In fact," Gajeel continued "it was only two or three months before she was kicked off the team." He was completely absorbed in his memories. Never the patient man, Laxus raised his voice.
"What are you talking about?" he demanded.
"You need to know what happened with Taro.