I am so sorry that this is so late! Gotta put life first and all that jazz.
I hope you like this chapter and remember to review, favorite and/or follow! Have a great day!
Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail and all corresponding characters. I only own the extra characters and plot.
"It should be around here somewhere," Lucy says with uncertainty as she looks between the map and the surrounding trees. Her and Laxus are walking on a dirt path in the middle of a large forest on the border of Fiore looking for a small cabin that their client is letting them stay in for the duration of their job. He gave them a map of where it is located but they haven't had any luck in finding it yet.
Both blondes are currently on their third job. After the magical ball failure they returned to the guild to find another job. Macao wasn't exactly happy with them for letting the bandit propose to the client's daughter but Lucy and Laxus do not regret their decision on the matter.
They found a second job that requested someone with lightning magic. It asked for the individual to power a festival that was being held in a town with little to no electricity for a week. They took the first train out to the small town and immediately got to work. By the end of the job the people in the town were immensely grateful and they walked away pretty well paid.
On another good note, Lucy has been training her leg every day and she has made great progress in restoring strength to the limb. Another few weeks of training and she should be back to normal.
Unfortunately for Lucy, she was still ten-thousand jewel short of her rent and needed some food money to boot. Although she mainly just said that as an excuse to get out of Magnolia again.
That is what brings them to their current predicament. They selected a job that said it needed some mages to investigate odd circumstances in the nearby secluded forest.
Recently, a group of famers have been excavating the forestland in the attempt to expand their farms so they can feed their families and the ever growing population. However, sudden bursts of lightning shoot out randomly while the workers are plowing or cutting down trees and have scared them off. The mayor put in a request for someone to investigate why such a weird phenomenon is happening and to put a stop to it.
The tiny town of Tonnerre resides on the border of Fiore directly next to thick, lush woodland. It is predominately a farming town that has a rich history in farming a multitude of fruits and vegetables. The citizens are kind and welcoming and hold the forest and the animals in high regard. So high that both Fairy Tail mages were instructed to bring no harm to any animals or trees if possible whilst on their job. Lucy swore that they would be as discreet as possible. The mayor, satisfied with her answer, gave her and Laxus a map to an abandoned cabin in the forest and sent them on their way.
"Can't see anything with all of these damn trees in the way," Laxus grumbles to himself.
"There it is!" Lucy exclaims as she sees the faint image of a cabin through the trees.
Sure enough, thirty feet away sits a small cabin that is circled by trees on all sides. The cabin is one story tall and is made out of dark mahogany. The roof has wooden tiles along the top until it hits a red brick chimney at the rear of the building. A simple wooden door is in the center of the front wall and two square windows with curtains drawn on the inside line the front and side walls. A small porch made out of mahogany juts out in front of the house and has matching railing running around the edge. A comfortable wooden swing and two wooden chairs are on the right side of the porch to allow for a fabulous view of the trees.
Lucy thinks about how cute it looks and smiles up at the exterior. Laxus opens the door to the cabin and walks into the living room. Lucy is not far behind him as she follows him into the house.
The inside of the cabin has four rooms. In the center is the living room with a fireplace on the far end, a comfy sofa and two matching armchairs situated in front of the fireplace with a mahogany coffee table between them, an end table is on the end of the couch closet to the door and is decorated with a small lamp, and a deep red rug is laid out under all of the furniture. To the left are the kitchen and a small bathroom. The kitchen has a sink, refrigerator, oven, granite countertops, and matching mahogany cabinets and drawers. To the right are two doors that lead to a master bedroom and a smaller bedroom that looks to be for a guest. The master bedroom has a king sized bed with two side tables, a dresser, and an dressing table with an oval mirror made out of mahogany. A sliding door on the left wall hides a closet while the door next to it leads to the master bathroom. The guest bedroom is dressed the same way as the master bedroom but with only one side table and a dresser.
Lucy looks around the living room in awe. From the outside it looks kinda plain but the inside is beautiful and homely. She can total see herself living out here and working on her novel in the perfect serene seclusion of the quiet forest.
"Lucy? Lucy?" Laxus' voice rises as he tries to break Lucy out of her house-induced trance.
"Huh—What? What?" Lucy asks frantically as if she suddenly lands back on Earthland.
"I want this bedroom," Laxus nods his head toward the master bedroom. "You got a problem with that?"
"Oh no!" Lucy shakes her head. "Go ahead, you need the bigger bed anyway."
Laxus grunts in what Lucy deduces as an accepting thankfulness and walks into his bedroom to put his bag down. Lucy does the same thing with the other room before flopping onto the bed in relief. They have been walking for hours and her feet are killing her.
"Hey Laxus! You hungry?!" she yells through her open bedroom door.
Not two minutes later, Laxus walks into her room and leans against the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest. "You bring any food?" he asks with a raised eyebrow. He packed a few things in his bag but not enough to warrant a dinner.
Lucy rolls her eyes up toward the ceiling in thought. Crap, she didn't think about that; maybe she should have before she opened her mouth. They can get food by either going to town or hunting in the forest but since they were asked not to harm the animals, they should go to town. Her feet pulse in agony at the mere thought of any more walking.
"How about I make you a deal," Lucy says as she tilts her head up so she can see the blonde man. "If you go get the ingredients, I'll cook the food."
Laxus scowls at Lucy's very obvious attempt to not move. Heaving a heavy sigh, he nods his head before looking at the woman with his neutral gaze. "What should I get?" he asks.
Lucy's eyebrows crease in thought as she contemplates over what she can cook. "Get some meats, vegetables, potatoes, bread, and cheese," she says as she thinks out loud. "Any kind will be good. I'll figure out what to make with the things you get. Make sure that you get enough to last for the week," she adds as an afterthought.
Laxus pushes off of the doorframe with a grunt and turns toward the front door. "Be back in a while," he calls over his shoulder.
Lucy drops her head back onto the bed just in time to hear the door click shut and a boom of thunder shortly afterwards. Sighing in content, she relaxes against her bed. She knows that she is going to have to get up in a little while so she should try to rest as much as she can right now.
Two hours later, another resounding boom shakes the house and Lucy takes that as her cue to get out of her bed. She walks into the living room in time to see Laxus placing the six bags of food onto the kitchen countertops.
"Find everything?" she asks as she comes up behind him.
"Yeah. Got some drinks too," he replies without looking at her.
Lucy simply nods her thanks and helps Laxus put almost everything away. True to what she said earlier, he got an assortment of meats, fruits, vegetables, potatoes, bread, and cheese that she can make a variety of dishes with over the next week. She decides that they can have hamburgers tonight so she leaves out the ground beef, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and buns.
Once everything that needs to be stored is put away, Laxus leaves the kitchen to go relax in the living room until dinner is ready. He pulls out his Sound Pods, throws his coat on one of the recliners, and lies down on the couch with his hands behind his head.
An hour later, Lucy brings two plates of food out to the coffee table. Both blondes eat in companionable silence as they enjoy their dinner.
The next day, Lucy and Laxus head to the edge of Tonnerre where the farmers have seen the bursts of electricity. They think that if they can see what exactly is happening they can get a better idea of what is going on.
Near the border of the town they see multiple farms near a line of uprooted pine trees and stumps. Several farmers are tending to their crops or livestock but one man notices them approaching and walks up to greet them.
"Hey there, can I help you?" the farmer asks warmly. He is an average looking middle-aged man with long black hair that is swept back to the base of his neck. The hair matches a scruffy beard that extends to his collarbones. He wears worn out overalls with a long sleeved white shirt underneath that has the sleeves rolled up to the elbows.
Lucy smiles up at the man before replying, "We are the mages from Fairy Tail that the mayor requested. My name's Lucy and this is Laxus," she says as she points to the man beside her. "The mayor said that lightning appears around here and he asked us to put a stop to it. We're looking for anyone who can tell us anything."
"Oh! You're the mages!" the famer exclaims in surprise. "Oh! I am so glad you're here! The name's Murphy. Me and the other farmers can't get anything done nowadays with all of that electricity flying around everywhere."
"You've seen the lightning?" Lucy asks as she cocks her head to the side.
"Yep, sure have." Murphy points over to the line of trees where some stumps, bushes, and holes lie in the ground twenty feet away from the fence around the edge of his land, "Saw it right over there. Wasn't just over there either, it happened all along the trees to the other farmers too. It scared us so much that we haven't gone back since."
"How large of a blast was it?" Lucy asks as she crosses her arms under her well-endowed chest.
The farmer strokes his chin in thought. "It's too hard to say. Seeing as how bright and all it was. But I would say that it was probably no wider than those trees."
"And it just happens randomly?"
"Yep, just came outta nowhere. When I told the misses she that I was crazy but she doesn't think that way anymore."
"Alright then, do you mind if we look around?" Lucy asks politely.
Murphy gestures to line of trees with his hand and gives a big nod. "Be my guests. Don't get shocked though. If either one of you need anything make sure you come ask."
Lucy gives him a reassuring smile and nod. She and Laxus walk over to where the farmer pointed to begin their inspection. They start on the land near the farmer's house before moving down the line of trees to look at every location. Nothing seems out of the ordinary aside from the messiness that comes with cutting down trees and renovating land.
The only odd things are small black scorch marks located on the ground here and there. Lucy looks around the immediate area of each mark but finds nothing that would give her a clue as to what or who could have possibly caused the black streak in the earth.
After spending two hours carefully investigating the ground both outside and inside the immediate vicinity of the trees, Lucy and Laxus have come to an impasse.
Nothing. That is what they have found. Absolutely nothing and they have no leads to further their search either.
"Maybe we're missing something," Lucy sighs in exasperation.
"No, we've already looked at everything three times. If there was something to find, we would have found it already," Laxus states matter-of-factly.
"Then what do we do?" she asks more to herself. "It would be a lot simpler if we could just see-" she stops in her train of thought as an idea pops into her head.
Laxus hums at her in question when she stops talking.
As part of her brilliant idea, Lucy walks up to the fence and calls Murphy over. The farmer greets her again once he is within earshot and asks her what it is that she needs.
"When are you guys are going to start working on the land again," Lucy asks.
Murphy puffs out his cheeks in thought as he crosses his arms. "Well, we were going to wait until you two were done with getting rid of the problem. Why?"
"We need to see the lightning. It would help us deduce what's really going on here. Since it only happens when you guys are clearing out the trees, we need to watch you work and find out what's really going on," Lucy explains.
A look of realization spreads across the Murphy's face before melting into concern and worry. "Are we gonna be safe?" he asks in a troubled tone.
Lucy gives him a hearty nod. "Of course! We won't let anything happen to you!" she declares with determination burning in her eyes. Her and Laxus are going to apprehend this criminal before he or she can even think about sparking up a single finger!
Murphy takes a step back before he overwhelmed from the aura of passion flowing out of the blonde woman. "We can start tomorrow if you like," he sweatdrops. "Today is market day so all of us are tending to our farms for the rest of the day. How about you two come by tomorrow morning for some breakfast before you get started. The misses will love to meet you."
"Alright! We'll be back first thing tomorrow morning then!" Lucy yells with a fist pump of happiness. Murphy gives her a concerned look before wryly smiling. Lucy takes that as a yes and marches toward town with more vigorous fist pumps.
Laxus watches the woman stride away from Murphy with a bored expression. He heaves a tired sigh before deciding to follow the partly crazed woman. She can be a little too much sometimes, he thinks to himself as he catches up to her.
Just as she agreed the day previously, Lucy arrives with Laxus bright and early in the low morning sun. They knock on the Murphy's door and wait patiently for him to answer. A minute later, he shows up chewing a piece of food and holding a piece of toast in his hand. "Ah! Good, you're here. We've been waiting for you! The misses made enough food to feed a herd of cattle," he jokes as he steps aside for the mages.
Both blondes step inside before following Murphy into an adjoining room. A wooden table sits in the middle with stacks of food piled on top and four chairs situated around it. Various decorations line the walls of the room and give of a comfortable farm home vibe.
"Why hello there!" a woman exclaims joyfully as she walks into the dining room holding a bowl of biscuits.
"This is my wife Marilou," Murphy introduces the woman to Laxus and Lucy. "Well sit down, sit down. Have something to eat, can't have you two fainting from starvation," he says with a gesture to other chairs as he takes his own seat.
Marilou is a middle-aged woman with black hair like her husbands with the exception of a few gray hairs near the roots. She has her hair pulled up into a bun with a bandana covering the sides and top. Small crow's feet crinkle around her eyes and laugh lines around the corner of her lips appear as she welcomes the strangers into her home. She has a lean figure and she wears a plain blue dress with a frilly apron in the front that has a design of a cartoon cow head sewn into the fabric.
"So you are the mages that I've heard so much about. I cannot tell you how excited we are to start expanding again. You wouldn't believe how much of a hassle this whole situation has been," she gushes happily as she loads a horde of food onto a plate for both Lucy and Laxus. "I was telling the other wives about your visit yesterday and let me tell you they were as happy as a prize winning pig eating a trough full of slop."
A plate full of food is placed is placed in front of Lucy and Laxus while Marilou doesn't stutter once in her happy chatter.
Both blondes begin to eat their meal while listening to the farmer and his wife talk back and forth about anything and everything under the sun. Lucy is able to eat through half of her plate by the time she is full. Laxus, on the other hand, goes through three helpings before he sits back in contentment from a full stomach.
Surprisingly enough, neither Murphy nor Marilou question Laxus' massive appetite. Marilou just gives him another plate while Murphy talks about his farm.
After breakfast, Murphy escorts the two blondes outside to the inside of the outer fence around his farm. They are right next to where the lands have begun to become renovated and have a perfect view of everything that will probably go on.
"Wait here, I gotta go get the other farmer's and we'll get right to work," he says before walking to the neighboring house.
Lucy hops up onto the top rail of the fence so that she can sit with her feet dangling in front of her. Laxus leans down so his elbows are along the same rail Lucy sits and props his chin up in one hand.
Half an hour later, Murphy walks out to the messy landscape with half a dozen other men dressed in overalls or work pants. Three men, including Murphy, tackle the already chopped down trees while the other four go to the line of trees and begin cutting down new ones. Murphy and his group pull the stumps up from the ground and haul them to the side of the land so they can be used for firewood or burned in the compost pile. The other group takes giant saws with one man one each side to cut through the tough trees.
A few hours pass as Lucy and Laxus watch the men cut, chop, pull, drag, scrape, dig, and push. The groups switch places every hour so they are never doing the same thing for very long. Something about it being good for their backs.
All the while, no lightning bursts have appeared anywhere. Lucy is beginning to wonder whether or not the farmers were seeing things and there is really is no lightning. Laxus, though incredibly bored, keeps up his indifferent façade.
"Lemonade?" a cheerful voice chirps beside them.
Both blondes turn their heads to see smiling Marilou holding a tray full of glasses and a pitcher of sweet lemonade.
"Sure! Thanks!" Lucy says excitedly as she takes a glass. Laxus takes a glass with a grunt in gratitude. Marilou gives them both a bright smile before turning and walking toward the hard-working men.
Lucy takes a long drink out of her glass. The cool yellow liquid flows down her partially parched throat and quenches her thirst. She exhales a breath of satisfaction as she looks up at the bright blue sky. It is such a lovely day that she would love to spend it reading outside or shopping. Yet she can't due to the responsibilities of her current job.
Laxus takes small sips of his glass as he resumes his surveying of the land in front of him while wearing his frown of indifference.
One more hour passes before Lucy and Laxus hear anything directed toward them from the men.
"Hey Lucy?" Murphy grabs her attention as he walks up to the celestial mage. "Can you go get some more lemonade for me and the men? I would really appreciate it."
Lucy nods her head and hops off the fence. As she walks across the field, she stretches her stiff shoulders and back. She is secretly happy that she has an excuse to do something other than watching the men work. You can only watch seven guys doing the exact same over and over again for so long, after all.
Lucy walks up to Marilou whom is folding a pair of overalls. "Excuse me, Marilou? Do you have any more of that lemonade? Some of the farmers are asking for some," Lucy asks pleasantly.
"Of course! Take every drop if you need to. Can't have the men dying of dehydration," she teases.
Lucy nods her head in agreement and begins to pour several glasses full of lemonade.
Being a woman who loves to talk, Marilou tries to chat with the blonde woman. "You are your boyfriend are so cute," Marilou coos.
Lucy's nearly drops the pitcher of lemonade as her head shoots up to show a dropped jaw and a thick red blush over her cheeks. "B-Boyfriend?! No, no! We're not—He's not—" she denies vehemently as she waves her arms in front of her body. The lemonade sloshes around inside the pitcher and a few droplets of the yellow liquid fly out to spill on the ground.
Marilou tilts her head in question at the state of the younger woman before realizing that she embarrassed the poor girl. Marilou attempts to calm Lucy with a soft apologetic smile and voice saying, "Oh, I'm sorry dear, I just assumed." It seems to do the trick because Lucy suddenly stops flailing her arms and clutches the cool pitcher to her chest. "It's just that you two seem to fit each other so perfectly that it is the most logical conclusion. Even if you two don't date, you seem to enjoy being together. That's a good thing to have in a team you know," she chirps happily as she resumes her folding.
Lucy's eyebrows rise in surprise as the red blush diminishes to a small pink blush. She never expected to be complimented on such a thing so it makes her a little embarrassed, the good kind of embarrassed. "Thank you," she says timidly.
"Hey Lucy! Where's that lemonade?" Murphy calls across the field.
Snapping out of her trance, Lucy pours the last couple of glasses and empties the pitcher. "Coming!" she yells back. She thanks Marilou for the lemonade before running off with the glasses on the tray. Marilou giggles in the wake of the girl before wiping her hands on her apron to face the most difficult item to fold—the fitted bedsheet.
Lucy makes it back to Murphy is record time and hands over the lemonade. She grabs a glass for herself and for Laxus once her hands are free. Murphy thanks her and tells her that he will be right back. Murphy hands out the lemonade and returns with the empty glasses within fifteen minutes. Everyone resumes working while Lucy perches herself back on her spot on the fence.
Several more hours pass and there is still no lightning.
Lucy sighs in boredom. She is about to ask Laxus if they should just call it a day when Laxus' head jerks to the right shortly before they hear a scream. A bright yellow light shines through the greenery near the middle of the row of trees.
Without a second thought, Lucy and Laxus jump off or over the fence and run to where they saw the light. Within moments, both blondes arrive to where the flash of light came from and see two of the farmers lying on the ground. Lucy immediately runs over to them and asks, "Are you okay?"
Murphy and the others arrive on the scene just as the farmers on the ground nods their heads and stand up. "What happened?" Murphy demands.
"We were cutting the tree when that bolt of lightning came out of nowhere. It was about a foot or so away from us," one farmer says as he gestures toward the half cut tree.
"Did it hurt you?" Murphy presses.
"No, just scared the living shit out of us," the other farmer answers.
Murphy sighs in relief and motions to Lucy that he can take it from here. Lucy joins up with Laxus as he searches for any clues. They figure that someone must be firing lightning bolts at the farmers and they are determined to catch the mysterious man.
From the farmers' story, the lightning bolt occurred pretty close to the tree. Logically, that would mean that any clues would be in close proximity to the tree. Lucy looks on the ground for any kind of footprints or markings while Laxus surveys the area to pick up any residue static frequencies.
Lucy finds a lot of deer and fox footprints littered throughout the ground as well as the footprints of the farmers. A small black scorch mark appears on the ground about a foot away from the farmer so that part of the story has been confirmed. Thing is, that's it. There are no other indicators that anything ever happened there.
Laxus walks in different directions as he focuses his senses to register any form of electricity. If one direction does not produce any results he tries a different direction. He continues this trend every time a particular location is silent on his lightning radar.
They search the area for fifteen minutes and find nothing worth noting. No footprints, no electrical charge, no usual markings, nothing. It's like whoever did this just vanished into thin air.
"How is this possible," Lucy wonders in confusion as her and Laxus regroup near the tree.
"Hell if I know," Laxus gruffly replies.
Lucy cups her chin with her forefinger and thumb in thought. How can someone leave behind no tracks or indications that they were here? Where would they go? Why attack the farmers all of the sudden? What is his motive? All of the questions swirl in her head as she considers each and every one.
"I wouldn't think too hard on it," Murphy's voice cuts into her thoughts.
Lucy and Laxus look at the older man in slight surprise.
"If you can't find anything then you can't find anything," he says nonchalantly. "You've seen what we're talking about though so that counts for something. The men and I are getting tired and it's getting late. How about we start up first thing tomorrow morning and you can continue your investigation then?"
"Doesn't the lightning ever happen at night?" Lucy asks with a cock of her head.
Murphy shakes his head, "Nope, just when we're working."
Lucy frowns at the new information. That doesn't make any sense…Why would the lightning only happen during the day?
"We gotta go get ready for dinner; I'll see you two tomorrow. Don't forget to stop by for breakfast, we can talk then," Murphy says as he gives the mages a nod.
Lucy bids the farmers goodnight and turns toward the direction of the town. Her and Laxus' cabin is in the other side of the forest and they have to go through the small town in order to get on the right road. They realize how starving they are as they walk through the town and smell all of the wondrous scents. That's what they get for not eating all day.
Lucy says that she'll cook dinner once they reach the cabin. Laxus nods his head and thanks her.
The pair walks back to their cabin in companionable silence. The late evening sun shines through the leaves in the canopy and create spots along the forest floor. Birds chirp happily as they sing their final songs for the day before they fly away to slumber in their nests. Small animals scurry to and fro on their journey home to nestle into their warm homes.
Once Lucy unlocks the door she heads to the living room and plops down in one of the recliners. Laxus remains by the door and throws his fur-lined coat onto the closest flat surface.
"I'm gonna go train for a while. I saw an open field in the forest not too far away from here," Laxus states gruffly as he opens the front door.
"O-okay," Lucy says in surprise. She never noticed a nearby field. "I'll come get you when the food is ready."
Laxus turns to gaze at her skeptically from the corner of his eye. "You know where it is?"
Lucy shrugs her shoulders. "I'll figure it out. Can't be too hard when there will be lightning shooting up into the sky," she giggles.
He tsks at her before leaving. She rolls her eyes in response and lays back into the recliner. Taking a few minutes to herself, she tries to figure out what to make for dinner. They had hamburgers yesterday so she doesn't want to make that again. Oh, how about pasta?! That's easy to make! With her heart set on some kind of pasta dish, Lucy heaves herself up from the comfortable recliner and heads to the kitchen.
She looks in the fridge and sees that they have some tomatoes. She decides to make a simple marinara sauce to top some spaghetti that she knows they have. Simple, easy, and filling. What more can you ask for?
As Lucy prepares the tomatoes for the sauce, the farmer wife's words resonate through her mind. Even if you two don't date, you seem to enjoy being together. That's a good thing to have in a team you know.
An odd combination of happiness and disappointment fill her heart while thinking about that those words. Happiness from receiving such a nice compliment and disappointment from how wrong the woman was.
As much time as her and Laxus have been spending together these past few months, that doesn't automatically make them team. She has never given it much thought due to them always being so busy but now that she has time, she can't help but dwell on the fact.
Should they be a team? They have worked well together in the past and all. Not to mention how they are technically "partners" right now due to Master's suggestion. The real question though, is will Laxus want to be partners with her after he is no longer required to do so? Does she want to be partners with him? Well, yeah. At least, that's what she thinks she wants. Otherwise she wouldn't feel so disappointed at the thought of not being in the same team.
Of course she also needs to consider the difference in the titles between them; her being a regular mage while he's an S-Class mage. How will that affect their team dynamic? It could make a huge difference, then again Erza was S-Class and she didn't act that different than anyone else. Any more than usual anyway.
Is she thinking too much into this? Or not enough? She has no idea. Maybe she needs some more time to consider if she even really wants to be his partner. It can't hurt to take her time and consider all of her options, right? Right. After all, she is thinking about becoming permanent partners with the man. He will become a valuable part of her life and she a part of his. That is not something to take lightly.
He already is valuable to you, a small voice claims inside of her head. Lucy shakes her head in the attempt to almost literally remove the voice from inside her mind. The last thing she needs is her own mind tempting her and giving her any crazy ideas.
Inhaling a deep breath through her nose, she focuses on making dinner. She can consider her options later when she has free time but right now she has a hungry dragon slayer to feed. Looking down at the food, she realizes that at some point in time while she was lost in her thoughts she has completely stopped moving and was staring into empty space.
Moving like lightning, Lucy has the spaghetti and sauce prepared in less than an hour. She walks out the front door and looks above the trees to spot any stray lightning bolts shoot up or down from the sky. The top of bright lights shine through the trees to her right and she knows immediately which direction to head.
The further that she walks into the forest the more lost she feels. Somehow she has gotten off of the small path and is somewhere in the middle of the forest. She can't see the tops of the trees or the sky so she has no idea where to find Laxus. She knew she shouldn't have taken that shortcut dammit!
Resorting to her last means of finding the blonde male, she starts to yell out his name through the vegetation. After yelling for several minutes Laxus hops out of the tree tops and lands next to her. Lucy nears jumps out of her panties from fright when Laxus appears beside her so suddenly and so quietly. She quickly resorts to chastising him for his rude behavior while he stands there and smirks down at her.
By the time both of the Fairy Tail mages reaches the cabin the spaghetti has grown cold.
"I heard that you saw the lightning yesterday," Marilou states with wide eyes as she gazes at the visitors in her house.
Lucy nods her head in acknowledgement. "Yeah but it's not what we expected," she frowns at the lack of progress.
"What do you mean?" Marilou questions the younger woman with a tilt of her head.
"It's just that it's so weird though that it only happens under very specific circumstances," Lucy sighs. "It never happens at night, only when the farmers are working, and only near the edge of the forest. And even then it only happens sometimes. Why would the guy pick those times? It just doesn't make any sense."
Murphy nods his head in agreement. "I never thought about it that way but yeah, you're right. That is strange."
"I think that we should observe you guys again today and hope that the lightning reappears. We don't have enough information to have any definite answers right now," Lucy explains her theory. "If you guys can work like you would normally then we might have a chance at catching whoever is doing this."
Murphy gives her a complicated look. One that is a mixture of understanding and apprehension. "I understand. Let me tell everyone else about your plan before we start. Might help convince them to give it their all," he says after a moment of silence.
Lucy gives him a bright smile and thanks him for all of his cooperation.
Just like yesterday, Lucy and Laxus return to their spot at Murphy's fence. They want to make sure they have a good vantage point of the whole landscape for the day
As Lucy sits next to Laxus, she thinks about the argument she had with herself the previous night. Once they were done with dinner, they went to their rooms and went to sleep. At least that was the plan. She spent the better part of the night tossing and turning over every little detail of the idea of her and Laxus becoming full-fledged partners. It was four o'clock in the morning by the time she came to a conclusion.
She, Lucy Heartfilia, is going to ask Laxus Dreyar to be her partner.
It was by five 'clock that she decided that she is going to do it before dinner that evening. That way he can have some time to consider her offer if he needs to. Although she thinks that he won't have to think about it and will agree straightaway.
It's going to be great!
But first, she has to make it through this day without dying of boredom. If only there was a way to pass the ti-
"Hey Laxus," Lucy says suddenly. "I'm going to go see if I can help the farmers out. It's better than just sitting here doing nothing."
Laxus turns his bored expression toward her. "As long as you pay attention to our job," he reminds her of their obligation.
Lucy smiles broadly at him and gives him several nods as a promise not to forget why they are there. She hops off the railing and heads over to where some of the other farmers are having trouble pulling up a thick tree trunk base.
She pulls out a small golden key and chants a verse that he knows all too well. He knows it so well that he could probably say it in his sleep. Scratch that, he is sure that he can say it in his sleep.
Within a couple of seconds a bright light appears in front of the blonde woman before fading to reveal the pink-haired maid named Virgo.
"Your partner sure is amazing," Murphy says as he comes up beside Laxus while holding a glass of lemonade.
Laxus doesn't move an inch with the exception of his eyes slightly widening to betray his surprise at the older man's statement. "Partner?" he wonders. He looks ahead to where Lucy is chatting with Virgo about helping the famers dig up the old tree stumps. The farmers have hearts in their eyes as big comical tears of happiness flow down their cheeks.
Lucy as his partner? Sure, he considers her his friend but he has never really considered her his "partner". Although she has been somewhat attached to him since they meet in Hargeon. Not to mention how they have been doing almost everything together for the past three months and how she is "supervising" him for Macao. But does that make her his partner?
Memories of the Thunder Legion flash through his mind and Laxus can feel his heart tear into two; one side floats in light airy happiness while the other drowns in a sea of sorrow and anger. I won't go through that again…he decides silently to himself. His mood reflects his dark thoughts as he makes up mind to protect himself despite the pain in his heart.
"Yeah," Murphy exclaims happily. "She's really sweet and she is so considerate of everyone. It is such a great thing to see, especially someone who works in your profession. She reminds me a lot of my wife. Best partner a man can ever ask for."
Laxus' shoulders tense further. He is well aware of how much he is aware of how kind of a person Lucy is. She has been nothing but good to him. That is one of the reasons that she is such a great partner. The blatant ache in his chest drives that point home.
Luckily for Laxus, at that moment a bright yellow bolt of lightning streaks out from the line of trees. He uses that as an excuse to get away from the farmer and his unintentional mood dampening chatter.
Lucy tells Virgo to help the farmers while she goes and checks on the source of the lightning. She runs off while Virgo gives a neat bow and begins to effortlessly dig into the ground.
The blonde duo arrive the lightning's location at the same time and look around expectantly. Laxus takes the opportunity to go scouting through the trees and leaps up into the branches. Lucy begins her search on foot. They continue this style of investigation for the next thirty minutes until another lightning burst shines through the trees on the other end of the row.
Of course, they run there and start all over again. After another thirty minutes, Lucy finally sends Virgo back to conserve some of her magical energy.
They spend the rest of the day going back and forth between old and new sources of electricity and carefully surveying each one. Laxus tries his damnedest to avoid being around Lucy for prolonged periods of time. Whatever he is feeling, he doesn't want to involve her any more than what is necessary and he already knows that she has indirectly involved. It doesn't help his attitude that they come up empty-handed each time.
It leaves them in a complete conundrum. What in the hell is going on here?
Murphy and the other farmers notice how much of a difficult time the two mages are having and end the day early. No need in risking their safety when even the trained mages of Fairy Tail cannot figure out what is going on.
Customary to the previous days, Murphy invites them to breakfast the following morning. Lucy gives a small smile in goodbye while Laxus grunts and rudely turns away to head home.
Both blondes return the cabin. On the trip there Lucy trailed behind Laxus and throws worried glances at his brooding back. She figures that he is frustrated about not making any progress in their job so she doesn't press the man for answers.
Laxus heads straight for his room and tosses his coat onto his bed once they arrive. Lucy gives him a concerned look as she stands in the living room alone. She wants to get his mind off of the job and figures that having him thinking about them as a team might help relieve some of the tension.
"I need to go train," Laxus growls as he walks through the living room and past Lucy. Just being in the same house as her is starting to drive him insane.
"Okay," Lucy yelps in agreement. "I'll come get you when dinner is ready."
Laxus glares at Lucy over his shoulder. Where the hell does she get off being so nice? The horrible thought strikes a chord in his heart and he can feel his self-fate rising in his chest. Holy fuck I need to get out of here, he whispers internally to himself. Laxus almost stomps the remaining distance through the living room to the front door.
As she watches him walk away Lucy can feel her plan of asking him to be her partner slowly slipping through her fingers. It's now or never!
"Hey Laxus? I've been thinking…" Lucy trails off as she nervously bites her lower lip. Come on get it together Lucy!
"Hmm?" he mumbles as his hand closes around the door knob. He turns his head to look over his shoulder that the petite woman.
"Well…um…"
"What?"
"I…do you…I mean…"
"Just spit it out already," his irritancy increases every second that Lucy fidgets behind him. He really needs to leave to go work off some of this stress.
"Would you like to be partners? Officially?" Lucy asks hesitantly. Now that the words have left her mouth, there is no taking them back. Everything rides on the next few seconds. She looks up into his green eyes with a hopeful smile.
Surprise and fear run up Laxus' spine at Lucy's question. No…His mind automatically shuts down and goes on the defense. He already swore to himself that he is not going to go through that again. No matter what.
"No," he hisses through his gritted teeth.
Lucy's face and heart drop at his answer. "W-what?" she questions in a cracked voice.
"I don't want to be your partner. Not now," he growls as he flings the door open, "not ever," he finishes as he slams the door shut behind him. The small cabin shakes from the sheer force of the impacting door.
Lucy is frozen. Her body…her mind…her heart…it's all frozen solid. Everything comes to a complete standstill, even the air becomes silent.
Long, dreadful minutes pass before a small, almost silent, choked sob fills the steady room. Another loud strangled cry follows and then another follows until sharp cries reverberate through the walls as the blonde celestial mage falls to her knees.
Lucy coves her face with her hands as she cries hot wet tears.
Stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid! How can I be so stupid?! Why did I think that he would want someone like me to be his partner?! she berates herself. A deep seated part of her soul crumbles into pieces as the pain of rejection begins to become fully apparent to the celestial mage.
A small shimmer of light appears beside her to reveal a small snowman shaped creature. He puts his white paw on Lucy's forearm to gain her attention. Lucy looks down through blurry eyes to see the outline of the little spirit. Without a second thought she scoops him into her arms and hugs him to her chest. Teardrops slide down her cheeks as she holds the small doggie as a sole source of comfort.
Laxus marches through the forest with heavy steps. His bad mood has worsened to record breaking depths. He has never felt this despondent in his life and he has no idea how to fix it. How to possibly make himself feel better after rejecting her. The only clear solution he knows is to train until he is too exhausted to care. With the extra incentive, his legs carry him faster to the one place that might be able to help him relieve some of this heartache.
As he arrives to his training field he strips out of his shirt and takes his place in the middle of the grassy area. He pulls his magic to his limbs where it sparks around his massive body. He tries to focus the energy around him to create a sort of haze but his concentration is broken every few seconds with a picture of Lucy flashing through his mind.
Lucy sits on the floor holding Plue for almost an hour. Her crying has now lessened to a few whimpers every now and then. A sharp chill runs down her spine to remind her that she has indeed been sitting on the cold hard floor.
"Plue, plue?" her spirit mumbles through the flesh of her breast.
"Yeah…yeah. I'll get off the floor," she agrees with him.
She shakily stands up and leans against the armrest of the couch. Her shoulders droop but remain tense and her eyes reflect the deep depression that shrouds her heart.
A meager grumbling noise vibrates across Lucy's stomach. She places a hand over her hungry stomach and mumbles, "That's right. I promised to make dinner. Guess I better get started." Without an ounce of feeling, she walks to the kitchen and pulls out some vegetables and broth. A stew is very simple and pretty much the only thing she is capable of making without too much focus.
Her movements are almost robotic. No energy is wasted and she performs the bare minimum of what she promised. Plue watches from the entry way between the kitchen and living room with a worried and concerned expression.
He doesn't like seeing his master like this. He never has. He wants her to be happy and he doesn't know what to do to make her smile.
"Plue? Can I ask you something?" Lucy asks in a hushed voice as she pours the broth into a pot.
Plue nods his head in a very shaky manner.
"What's wrong with me?" she continues in an equally quiet tone, "Am I really so weak that I have no worth at all? Or does he just not want me?"
Plue shakes his head before waddling over to Lucy and hugs her leg. Lucy looks down at the small creature. She appreciates what he is trying to do but not even his cuteness can lift her spirits right now.
Too many questions float around in her head and she easily gets lost in them. Why doesn't he want to be partners with her? Is it because she isn't as strong as him? Is it because she doesn't have as much experience as him? Or is it that he doesn't like her. That he finds find her annoying or burdensome? He never said anything in the past and that's what makes all of this so confusing. Why now? What has she done to upset him? Why did he seem so angry?
Should she try talking to him? She knows that he isn't much of a talker so that might not by the best idea. Maybe they should just stay away from one another until this whole thing blows over. No, can't do that. They're on a job and they would risk the good reputation of Fairy Tail if they just quit the job because they aren't on speaking terms.
She just had to go and ask him while on a job. Why couldn't she wait until they got back to Magnolia? She could at least cry in the safety of her own home. What a horrible situation she has put herself in.
She wants answers to all of these questions yet she doesn't feel like she has the mental or emotional capability right now to seek them out.
By the time that Lucy focuses on the food in front of her, she has already cut up all of the vegetables, poured the broth in, and the food has been cooking for several minutes.
Lucy puts the lid on the pot and puts it on simmer. The stew should be finished by the time that she fetches Laxus.
Her heart throbs in pain at the thought of interacting with the man who stomped on her feelings. She knows that seeing him while only tear up her heart even more. Yet, she can't bring herself to make herself neglect her promise.
With a final glance over everything, she heaves a sad sigh. Picking up the small spirit, she whispers over his head, "Come on Plue. Let's go tell Laxus that the food is ready." Gently closing the door, she takes small slow steps into the forest in the attempt to prolong the time she has apart from him.
At the clearing, Laxus' training has intensified. Instead of his casual sparks the lightning has morphed into large bolts of lightning that strike out at the ground like razors. Black scorch marks are etched into the earth and create patterns of unnatural swirls and twists.
Laxus charges a large amount of lightning into one hand. He makes a tight ball with the magic and aims it at trees on the far side of the clearing. The lightning slams into the wooden truck with a crunch. The fibers of the tree split from the impact and effectively blasts the tree to pieces. Tiny pieces of wood debris fly into the air and splash against anything in close range.
He repeats this exercise until he begins to lose the feeling in his arms. But he doesn't care. All he cares about is not feeling like shit any more. Not feeling like he just made a horrible mistake. Not having his heart scream at him to go back to her and explain.
His mind chants the words with each new punch. She's not your partner…your partners died months ago…all you'll get is heartbreak…it's better to be alone…you'll be safe if you're alone…
Every word shatters a piece of his already frozen heart. No matter how much pain each verse brings his soul, his mind knows that if he left himself vulnerable, if he let someone else in, only unbearable pain will follow. He is fighting an intense internal battle right now; his heart versus his mind. His heart demands that he let Lucy fill the hole that plagues his chest while his head reminds him how lost he felt when he lost them. The logical side of him solidifies the idea that as long as he never lets Lucy in…never let himself care for her like he did with…with…
Magic swirls around Laxus' body as his thoughts are ravaged by Lucy, the Thunder Legion, and his grandfather. He's sick and tired; sick and tired of feeling lonesome, sad, and angry whenever he thinks about her or them. He just wants for all of these stupid emotions to leave him alone. Without proper restraint on his magic, it builds around his body until a bright yellow mass of buzzing lightning is zooming around the air in close proximity to the blonde. Yellow blurs of fur scurry and hide behind trees as the foxes run away from dangerous man.
Reaching his emotional limit, Laxus releases all of the buildup into the air to create a multitude of thick lightning bolts raining down from the sky. Many hit the trees and ground to leave burnt residue in their wake.
The noise from the extreme amount of lightning destroying everything in its path is deafening. Laxus is so lost in his thoughts that he barely hears a scream. Looking where he thought he heard someone, Laxus' eyes widen as horror floods his system.
Standing at the edge of the trees is Lucy. Her mouth is open as she screams in agonizing pain, her eyes wide open, and her muscles twitching from being struck by a single strong, powerful lightning bolt. Plue has been dropped to the ground and is starting to fade away into the Celestial Spirit world.
Laxus immediately ceases his magic. All of the bright lightning fades away into the air, leaving nothing more than silence, the burnt trees and ground, and the two blondes.
As if in slow motion, her body begins to fall to the right. Loose strands of hair flow through the still air and her clothes hang off of her body. In what felt like minutes, but is only mere seconds, Lucy's back hits the ground with a thud. Her head hits the ground shortly afterwards with her eyes wide open but unseeing and her arm rolls out to the side. She doesn't move a muscle as a breeze gently blows over her skin.
"Lucy!" Laxus yells as he sprints to her side.
Nearing her, Laxus kneels next to her. Both of her eyes are staring straight up into the blue sky but lack all form of life in them. Her lips are slightly parted but no breath passes between them. The rest of her body is completely still as if she has been frozen in ice.
"Lucy! Lucy, can you hear me?!" he says as he hunches over her body. He grabs her shoulders and tries to shake her awake. Her head rolls from side to side like a limp doll. Nothing. She doesn't stir and only continues to stare upwards with those lifeless eyes.
Laxus leans down and puts his ear over her chest. He waits for a single heartbeat to flutter. One second…three seconds…ten seconds…
…Nothing…
…Her heart has stopped beating.
Panic, terror, and pain swallow Laxus whole as he realizes what he has done. His heart starts to pound in his chest but his blood runs cold as he fully realizes what he has done. Oh god…Oh please, no… he begs internally. This can't be happening. I just…I killed her…
