Another chapter a day late. Sorry guys, I really am, but better late than never.
Lucy was staring daggers at Levy.
"I don't know what you're talking about." The girl said simply not looking up from her book. Lucy leaned down and snatched the book from her hands.
"Really? You don't know why everyone suddenly decided to leave earlier."
"No, not a clue." Levy battered her eyelashes at Lucy. "Now can I get my book please?" She held out her hands but Lucy shook her head, instead waking to the balcony and suspending the book over the side.
Levy jumped to her feet.
"You wouldn't…" Levy said.
"One way to find out." Lucy grinned at her. She feinted dropping the book. Levy closed her eyes for a moment flinching when she saw the book leave Lucy's hand for a split second.
"Lucy, let's be reasonable here…"
"I'm not hearing what I want too…" She let the book slid a little from her grasp. Levy gave a cry.
"Alright! I made everyone leave. Just don't drop the book."
Lucy smiled and walked back inside handing Levy her book. She let out a sigh a relief and clutched the book to her chest.
"You going to tell me why you made everyone leave earlier?" Lucy asked.
"To give you and Natsu some alone time. Why else?"
"Me…and Natsu…why?"
"Are you seriously asking that question?"
"Yes, I seriously am."
Levy sighed. "Sometimes you are as clueless as a guy. He likes you."
"Of course he does, he's my best friend." Lucy said. Levy hit her on the head with the spine of her book. "OW! What was that for?" She said clutching her head.
"Hello! Lucy, he likes you, as in likes you likes you."
"Natsu…" She laughed out loud. "Come on, this is Natsu we're talking about. He my best friend."
"Who happens to be madly in love with you."
"No, he can't be…can he?"
"You know that he does, the signs are all there. I don't why you don't do anything about it. You so obviously like him too."
Lucy started sputtering incoherent phrases.
"Try and deny all you want. You know it's true."
"Alright I'll admit it…"
"Yes –"
"As soon as you admit you like Gajeel."
It was Levy's turn to splutter incoherently. Lucy gave Levy a wicked grin knowing she had turned the tables.
"Try and deny it all you want. You know it's true." She said throwing back Levy's words at her.
"Gajeel and I are just friends."
"Sure, just like Bisca and Alzack are just friends…or Mira and Fried."
"I –" Levy was cut off by a blood curdling scream.
"What was that?" Lucy asked.
"It sounded like it came from downstairs." Levy said running out the door. Lucy was right behind her. They raced down the stairs. They won't the only ones. Everyone in the house had heard the cry and all raced to see what made could make such a noise. They found out when they all reached the final landing. Mira and Lisanna who had been at the head of the group stopped suddenly on the stairs causing the others behind them to crash into one another. They barely managed to stop from toppling out of the stairway.
"SNAKES!" Lisanna yelled and tried desperately to get back up the stairs but couldn't because of the backup. In the common room there were at least a dozen snakes slithering around. In the room Laki was on top of the couch, Juvia had somehow jumped on Gray's shoulders. He was struggling to hold her while avoiding the snakes. Wendy and Romeo were on the coffee table (the newly replaced coffee table).
Erza and Natsu came running in from the beach and stopped when they saw the snakes.
"What the hell?" Natsu asked.
"Someone left us a package on at the front door." Laxus said trying to grab one of the snakes and jumping back with it snapped at him. "I should have known something was off. It was addressed to Fairy Tail, not anyone specific." he said.
"I can guess who sent it." Natsu said. He looked over the stairway and caught Lucy's eye. She frowned knowing who he was talking about. Laxus leapt again and grabbed one of the snakes.
"Ha, take that." He said as he held it firmly behind the neck. "We can't just let these things run free around here. Help me round up the rest." The guys and Erza working together to round up the snakes while the girls retreated up stairs.
"We can help you know." Lucy said from the stairway.
"No way. You are staying right there. Where you can't get hurt." Natsu said pointing at her.
"This is ridiculous. Why can't we help?" Levy said folding her arms.
"Because if you get hurt I'll have to kill Sage, and I really don't want to go to jail for killing a wimp." Gajeel said.
"You're letting Erza help you." Mira said.
"That's because Erza is Erza. Now get back up those stairs." Fried said. "Or we'll use something to block it."
"You guys can be so melodramatic sometimes." Cana said heading back up the stairs with the others behind her.
Capturing the snakes hadn't taken that long, but Gajeel had gotten bitten by one on the leg. For awhile they had a scare but after looking up the snakes online it turned out all of them were either kingsnakes, corn snakes or ball pythons, none of which were poisonous.
"I'm sorry everyone. This is all because of me." Lucy said when all the snakes had been caught and everyone had gathered in the common room.
"It's not your fault." Natsu said placing his arm around her shoulders.
"It's that little weasel Sage." Gray said. He looked over at the giant glass punch bowl they had placed all the snakes in for the time being. The concave side made it impossible for the snakes to get out.
"I say we deliver the snakes back to Sage. See how he likes it." Gajeel said.
"Not that isn't a good idea. But I may have a better one." Erza said. She was on her laptop. She looked up with a wicked grin. "After all we are Fairy Tail. We don't just match our opponents, we out do them."
"What do you have in mind?" Natsu asked leaning forward eagerly.
"While we can all agree that non-poisonous snakes is a pretty good score, this one is very good." She turned her laptop around for everyone to see.
"Oh, that is wicked cool." Gray said grinning.
"You have an evil mind my friend." Mira said holding up her hand. Erza high fived her.
"I didn't even know you could get those online." Levy said.
"It's the internet. You can get anything." Gajeel said grinning wickedly at the screen.
"Erza I love the way your mind thinks." Natsu said.
"I'll place an order right now. Express delivery. Sage will get our little gift tomorrow morning." Erza said typing quickly. "How many should I order?"
"He sent a dozen snakes here, I say we send a dozen for him." Laxus said.
"Alright one dozen s –"
"Whoa! Hold up, I can't let you do that." Lucy said. Everyone looked at her.
"Lu, come on this guy cheated on you. Twice! And then he dropped a box full of snakes at our house." Levy said. Lucy shook her head.
"No, that's not what I meant. I can't let you pay." Lucy said taking the laptop from Erza.
"You don't have to pay. I'll happily –"
"Who said anything about me paying. Oh no, I'm charging this to Sage's credit card." Lucy said with a grin.
"Brilliant. Lucy, that is so ingenious." Natsu said.
"How do you have Sage's credit card?" Levy asked.
"The bum never took the effort to get me a gift for my birthday or Christmas. He gave me his card number and told to get something for myself. Funny thing is I felt so bad I never got anything with it. Until two seconds ago when I got Sage his special gift…oh and what do you know I just ordered three dozen specialty pizzas for us, extra large, extra toppings. On Sage's tab."
Everyone cheered.
The next morning this despite the cheese induced comas everyone managed to get up just as the sun was up. They headed down the beach and sat down the sand.
"The show should be starting any minute now." Natsu said. They didn't have to wait long before they heard the yells from inside. Natsu chuckled.
"I think they opened it." He said.
Sage and every other occupant of the house ran out yelling. They ended up tripping over each other, landing in a pile on the sand.
When Sage heard the laughter he looked up and saw Fairy Tail. Most of them had fallen over because they were laughing so hard.
"YOU!" He yelled out.
"Enjoy the present we sent you?" Erza asked grinning.
"We sure enjoyed ours." Laxus said holding up a ball python. "We're thinking about keeping them as pets." He grinned.
"SKUNKS! You sent skunks to my house!" He shoved the boys off him and marched over. They all took steps backs, covering their noses.
"Oh man, you reek." Gray said.
"Dude, go get some tomato juice. It's supposed to help that smell." Gajeel said.
"Okay you want to mess with me. This means war."
"Bring it on." Natsu walking up to Sage until they nose to nose. They stared at each other until Sage turned away walking back to his friends.
"Thanks god, I don't how much longer I would have been able to hold my breath." Natsu said loudly. Sage turned sharply and ran at Natsu, fist raised. Natsu side stepped him and stuck his foot out. Sage tripped and hit the sand, hard. Fairy Tail rocked with laughter. They waved at Sage and his crew as they made their way back up the beach.
"Oh, and by the way. Thanks for those pizzas last night." Lucy said cheerfully waving to Sage. Sage gave her confused look and mouthed the word 'pizza'.
Back in the Fairy Tail common Mira was handing out celebratory beers and sodas.
"That will go down in Fairy Tail history as one of the greatest pranks ever." Natsu said jumping on the coffee table. "Let's toast to Erza, the Fairy Queen who came up with the brilliant idea." He raised his glass and everyone followed sooth. "And of course the lovely lady who put it over the top by making the bastard pay for the whole thing. Lucy." They all cheered again. Natsu grinned in Lucy's direction and winked at her. She blushed while Cana and Levy clapped her on the back.
And this is only the start of the war. The next chapter it gets turned up a notch.
Oh, and if you were wondering, if Jellal had been at the house when the snakes were running free Erza would have been in that stairway just like the other girls.
Nardragon~ until the next page.