Disclaimer: Again, I talked to Mashima-sama and he refused me politely…
Lucy's POV:
Walking back to Magnolia with Team Natsu and Laxus, I noticed Laxus sulking. After a while I stop talking, retreating to his side instead. Erza was on the same page, grabbing the two boys' arms, thus effectively giving me some space.
"Laxus, why do you look so sad?"
My care and curiosity for him tinted my voice. I carefully analyze his face while he took in my words; the face I have come to memorize is now stoic, and sullen. He glances between me and my Team. His face is pinched. That tells me everything I need to understand.
"Laxus, cheer up please, I will still take missions with my Team and friends, and you should do the same. But, I swear I will devote an entire week to you for missions each and every month. I never want to lose my friends, and I can't live with the thought of losing you – hey, look at me, Laxus."
I place a hand on either side of his face. As he looks at me, he leans his head forward and nuzzles my neck. I sigh with relief and see him smile - the first time I have ever seen him smile like that. It's a happy smile, not secretly smirking or filled with bloodlust, this smile was that of a truly happy person. Then he pulls me very close to him and uses a voice that not even a Dragon Slayer could hear.
"Lucy, you have never expected a lot from me, and I really like that about you. Don't leave me and I will never leave you. For people like us being completely alone is the worst thing possible."
I look up to him and sigh sadly.
"Laxus, you'll never be alone! Please, hang out with us all!"
He nods as Erza lets the boys loose; they race to me with a die-you-scum scowl on their faces. Either out of habit or just plain irritation, I bop them both on the nose. Hard. Natsu whimpers and Gray races to hold his bleeding nose. Natsu knows how to get on my soft side and gives me puppy eyes, whimpering .
"A- Na- It won- Natsu! Stop looking at me like that!"
"Luce, what were we supposed to do when he grabbed you? We were concerned, so sorry for showing we care Lucy."
Whenever he uses my name it means he is serious. Ah hell…
"Okay, I am sorry I shouldn't have bopped you two hard on the nose, Gray I apologize as well."
Catching onto Natsu's lead, Gray puts on wounded puppy eyes as well. I tear up and grab both of them by their necks, pulling them in for a big hug. Sadly they both end up smacking me dead in the chest with their bodies from the force of my hug. While we hug, Gray blushes furiously at being squished to me while Natsu grins his signature infectious grin. Erza and I look towards Laxus, who is grinding his teeth and scowling. He takes his coat off, revealing extreme muscles that almost make the coat too tight. I smirk - hopefully I am the reason behind him getting muscled. Likewise, I've worked out a lot since I met him.
While I was deep in thought, Team Natsu saw the greatest opening to piss off Laxus even more! They placed me on their shoulders and set off at a dead run for Magnolia; Erza distracted Laxus by shrieking really loud and then she ran a little behind us. The boys carried me, laughing and squealing happily off to Magnolia. Laxus, just now noticing he has been duped, tears off after me yelling, threatening, screaming, and zapping Gray and Natsu in a few very BAD places. They howl with pain, excitement, as they race even closer to the now looming Guild building.
Once reaching in the Guild, Gray and the others tell me their plans for Laxus. Understanding the stakes at hand, I decide to play along with them. The 'plan' is more like a game, the hide me in Mira's Booze/Perfume storage unit. The first part of the plan is that he has to play tag with Erza. He'll chase after her, she'll get tired and stop to let him catch her, and this will go on. I am getting sleepy. I am sure it will be a while before Laxus finds me, if they let him find me, meaning once he breaks down Erza's endurance, Natsu's lie detector thingy, Gray's brain, and my last decision… The game is called 'Find the Fairy' and Natsu, Gray and Erza made new rules. They give out clues to people who have helped hide the 'Fairy' and Laxus has to find me…
Laxus' POV:
They just left me chasing after them for a girl who was already mine, what…the…Hell! Now I have to wait for Erza to slow down and then I can question her about what they are doing to me. Taking pity on me for running the hundred miles to Magnolia and more to where we are now, she lets me catch her. Erza gives me the first clue verbally:
"I am where you first called me 'pyro' I loved the 'Fairy' first now come find me before we let her get away~."
I know exactly where Natsu is to get my next clue. The Pink Pyro sits at the Team Natsu table. Scarily calm, he sits and waits for me to sit at the table. He talks to me using a calm voice that I haven't heard him ever use unless talking about Lucy or Lisanna.
"Laxus, do you truly love Lucy? She means everything to us. If you hurt her with lies you will hurt us all. I can't live to see her hurt by being with you every day. That was the reason that we told Loke no. If he fell in love with her, and she returned it…"
He pauses to breathe he sighs,
"It would have killed her when she got old and stopped looking like she does now. We told her he was a playboy, not saying that he isn't but still, if she loved him it would have killed her one day. But if we allow her to love you like we know she does, will you hurt her? Will you make her wish she'd have chosen one of us instead? Would she regret choosing you?"
I actually have to think. I was so sure that Loke's love for Lucy was truly a one sided thing, I would have never thought that they had to prevent her from loving him. You thought that they never loved her more than a sister either until they told you as well dumbass! My subconscious smirkingly mocks my internal pain. That little hobo…
"I really love her. I'd never ever hurt her, unless she makes the choice to feel regret at loving me she wouldn't want you two, and only if I die first..."
"Libra, is lighting rod telling the truth?"
"Yes, young Master he- he is not lying about his feelings for Lucy."
"Thank you Libra. Okay then, Laxus, look for the second person Lucy had ever loved after all there are only three of us. And the second clue to Lucy's hiding place. It has every smell imaginable."
This stumps me for a good minute or two before I remember what Gray told me about Natsu and him never quite realizing their love for her and how they never pursued it. I now figured out who I am looking for. Gray Fullbuster, Ice-make Mage extraordinaire and the last hint to my clues. I zone out thinking of the next clue, every smell imaginable? What the hell is that supposed to mean?
"Hey Laxus, you should focus, after all Lucy is either in Cana's favorite place in the Guild, or at home…"
Son of an ice bitch, more riddles!
"You may ask me one simple question about this 'Fairy's' hiding place, and I will be oath-bound to answer it truthfully."
You have got to be freaking kidding me! Think Laxus, what can't you smell - i mean tell about Luc- aha!
"Gray, since Lucy always smells like strawberries, would she smell like strawberries and booze, or strawberries and sakuras?"
Gray pales and swears. Then he smiles devilishly.
"She'll smell like Lucy, booze and other things. That is all Laxus."
Fuck, back to square one… wait Cana's favorite room in the Guild… OH! Mira's storage unit room thingy!
"Thanks Gray!"
With that I understand the unspoken agreement. If I pick the wrong place or Lucy refuses to come out, I will leave her alone… never bug her again and exit her life, completely. Please oh please let me be on the right track! Otherwise they get to keep their Lucy.
"Hey, Gray if I am right you don't have to worry about Juvia for a week!"
"Please be right, Laxus!"
As I race to the spot a force field surrounds me and I yell in frustration as the runes appear. They read.
'If you really love Lucy, then what will you do with the Thunder God Tribe, and Team Natsu? Evergreen can 't stop turning Bixlow into stone… Only the truth will set you free Laxus…'
~Freed Justine.
That green-haired son of a cow! Of all the times he decides to be so damn specific! Okay calm down and think Laxus, just think… the answer hits me like a ton of stone bricks.
"I really don't know, Freed…"
The words leave my mouth and dissolve into the barrier; they melt the barrier faster than Natsu melts snow. Natsu loves her, Gray still is truly in love with her, and I am damn sure Lucy knows I love her… things made that clear months ago.
Oh what fools are we, to love a girl almost new to the Guild, heh we truly are fools. After all, only fools fall in love. Natsu's in love with the 'Lucy' that came here with him all those months ago and whom he'd sleep next to on a daily basis. Gray is in love with the 'Lucy' who he stopped smoking for, and the girl who loved him before he could even love himself… Erza's 'Lucy' is a great friend who could reprimand both idiots. My 'Lucy' is the girl that cried for my Grandfather more than I dared to. And she learned to love me before I even remembered the emotion it belonged to. Lucy, no matter who we perceive her to be, is Lucy.
I now approach the door after winding through a mass of corridors. I find a sleeping Lucy on the floor by some pillows. She cries in her sleep and I sigh. Carefully grabbing the girl I love, I wrap her up in my arms and walk out into the Guild Hall. Thank god I was out of that hell hole! It reeked of perfumes, booze, and strangely enough sex… either way, on the way out Team Natsu escorted me back to Lucy's house on Strawberry Street; on the way back we form a plan. We will clean Lucy's apartment/house thingy for her while she sleeps, we will even buy food for her! The gifts I am sure can wait till tomorrow right, after all they are just gifts…