It Started with a Big Mac

Chapter 10

I looked at myself in the mirror and smiled. "Alright Lucy!" I cheered to myself, "You are looking good!" I was a fairy. Yup. You read right. A fairy. I decided to dress up as a fairy. I was wearing a flow-y, pink dress with sparkles that reached my knees. To go with it, I wore shimmering wings, silver flats, a French braid, and... a tail (get it? To go with Fairy Tail? I'm so clever...). Out of my gigantic, repulsive makeup box, I got out a simple pink lip-gloss and applied it to my lips. And finally, I was done.

Let me back up. It has been well over a month since school started. Besides PE and Chem, I don't have any other classes with Dan. However, he still pesters me a lot: whenever he gets the chance. Luckily, Natsu and the others have always been there for me. Besides the occasional snarky remark, Dan does nothing. I'm pretty much 99% over the bastard now... yeah, it's been taking a really long time, huh? Anyway, today's October 31: Halloween! This year, this wonderful day landed on a Friday, so after class, the school is having a Halloween party. I was excited: it would be my first school party!

"Lucy!" my father called, "Natsu's here!"

"Coming!" Taking one last look in the mirror, I headed downstairs. For a while now, I felt as though my feelings for the salmon-haired teen had changed. When talking with him, I would randomly start stuttering. Whenever he looked at me, my face would flush. And whenever he wrapped his arm around me, my heart would speed up. I had a vague idea of what this feeling might be, but I wasn't too sure, nor was I ready to admit it.

When I reached the bottom of the stairs, my heart skipped a beat. Natsu looked... gorgeous. I mentally slapped myself. Shut up, Lucy. Natsu was dressed up as... an elf? A hot elf. I slapped myself again. And no, he wasn't dressed up as that kind of elf, he looked like freaking Legolas (minus the long hair and braids). Natsu had on the tunic, sash, cape (with a hood), fore-arm pads, and bow-and-arrow. He looked like a true woodland creature. He grinned cheekily at me, giving me a view of his perfect teeth.

"Hey Luce! You look great!"

I smiled back at him. "Thanks! You don't look too bad yourself. I'm surprised you didn't go with a dragon. Isn't that your favorite animal?"

"Nah, I've been a dragon every year. And besides, I wanna stand out from the guys for senior year."

"Ooh, trying to impress a girl, Natsu?" I teased.

He smiled, his onyx eyes twinkling in the morning light, "Only one."

My heart clenched at that. So he does like someone? I wonder which lucky girl he was trying to get.

Natsu continued, "And I think that two woodland creatures would look cool together."

Two woodland creatures? Two... two... well there's him, the elf... but what else was ther- oh. An elf and a fairy. I flushed a deep red color.

"G-great"

The sound of Dad's awkward coughing brought me back to the real world. Oops, I forgot he was there.

"Alright you two lovebirds, hurry up and get to school." he said as he pushed us out the door.

Natsu and I both turned red, although it wasn't really possible for me to turn more red than I already was. "We're not lovebirds!"

After 10 minutes of walking, we reached Fairy Tail High. I gaped at all of the students' (and sometimes, teachers') costumes. Although none of the guys looked as awesome as Natsu (I slapped myself), there were some pretty cool zombies, mummies, princes, knights, and more. Many of the girls dressed up as princesses, Disney characters, zombies, cosplayers, and animals. Eventually, we found our group of friends. Erza was a knight, Levy was a cowgirl, Juvia was a mermaid, Cana was a ... revealing cop, and Wendy was Little Red Riding Hood. Jellal was a knight, Gajeel was a bull, Gray was a pirate, Loke was a prince, and Romeo was a wolf.

"Dude," Gray laughed at Natsu, "Are you seriously an elf?!"

Natsu frowned angrily, "God a problem with that, stripper?"

"Yeah, that's a stupid costume."

"Well, at least I have a costume on."
Gray looked down at his (again) bare body, squealed, and hurriedly looked for his clothes, not noticing Juvia clutching them off to the side.

The school day soon passed with no sign of Dan anywhere. Perhaps it was because he thought that "his looks shouldn't be wasted on such mundane events as these"? What an ass... Anyway, the Halloween party started almost as soon as school ended. The gymnasium (now turned into a dance floor) was lit with flashing, colorful lights, there were tables and tables of never-ending food and drinks, and all the students were having a good time.

Next to me, Natsu tried to tell me something, but his voice was smothered by the music.

"What was that?!" I yelled at him.

Raising his voice, he asked, "I said 'do you want to go dance with everybody else?'!"

I looked back at the dance floor and saw most of our friends out there, with the exception of Loke, who was off flirting somewhere, Juvia, who was just stalking Gray, and Cana, who was busy spiking all the drinks. Although it looked really fun, it also looked really... intimidating.

"I don't know..." I answered Natsu, "I don't think I'm very good at- hey!" I shouted when the salmon-haired teen grabbed my hand and led me out to the dance floor. "Natsu! What are you doing?"

"Come on, Luce! We're gonna have some fun!"

"No, Natsu! I don't think this is a good idea-"

Soon, we were in the middle of the floor. I never felt so many pairs of eyes on me that... weren't judgmental. But it still felt pretty awkward standing in a crowd of dancing people.

"Natsu, I-"

He took my hands and smiled reassuringly. "Just trust me, Luce."

Alright. Two choices. Either I run out of here and make a complete and utter fool out of myself and make Natsu feel bad. Or I stay here, trust Natsu, keep him happy and still make a fool out of myself.

I chose the second option.

I nodded at Natsu, allowing him to do whatever it was he wanted to do. He grinned widely. "Awesome!"

Keeping a hold on both my hands, he began to dance wildly, pulling me left to right. Natsu laughed happily at my futile attempts to stop him. While he was laughing, I couldn't help but notice how happy and free he looked. Soon enough, I also found myself laughing along with Natsu and dancing with him willingly, not caring how awkward or robotic I looked. And it was fun. Like that time on the rollercoaster, I felt truly free and at peace, even with all the loud music and chatter going on around me.

After what felt like hours of dancing, Natsu and I finally stopped to catch our breaths.

"Stay here," Natsu shouted over the music. "I'll go get us some drinks. And don't worry, I'll find us something that Cana didn't spike."

"Thanks!" I watched as he grinned at me and left, his bright salmon hair soon disappearing into the darkness. Once I couldn't see him anymore, I walked around the crowd of people and eventually found Erza's scarlet hair. I walked closer and found her and the others dancing to the music off to the side.

"Hey guys!" I greeted.

"Hello Lucy," Erza replied, her cheeks a pink color from all the dancing (and Jellal). "I hope this school dance is to your liking."

"Yeah! I love it! It's so fun here."

"I'm glad you're enjoying it."

We continued to chat with the others for some time. After another few minutes had passed, I started to wonder where Natsu was. I excused myself from the rest of my friends and went to look for the salmon-haired teen. Even though it was extremely dark in the room, I was sure that I'd at least find Natsu's hair. I eventually found a head of bright pink hair.

"Natsu!" I called out.

He seemed to have heard me, but made no effort to turn around. I walked closer to him but because of the lack of light, I couldn't see his face or tell what was wrong.

"Natsu?" I asked again.

This time, without turning around, he grabbed my wrist and began to lead me somewhere. Now normally, I wouldn't let anyone do that to me (who knows what kind of pervs are out there), but because he's Natsu, I let it slide. I was also a bit worried that Natsu accidentally drank some of the spiked punch... After a moment, we stepped out of the dark gymnasium and into the bright hallways. And I noticed a few different things.

One, this guy was a bit tall to be Natsu. Two, the pink hair looked too shiny to be real. Three, the guy wasn't even in an elf costume. Four, he wasn't wearing Natsu's typical white scarf. And five, I didn't notice it before, but this guy's hand was cold and clammy, not like Natsu's, which was warm and comforting. Who was this guy?

"Who the hell are you?" I growled at the stranger. Yeah, I growled, a trait I picked up from hanging around Natsu and the others.

The person in front of me didn't answer, but rather dragged me away to a more secluded area away from the gym, despite my protests and attempts to break free. We soon reached a corner of the school building. The figure turned around and took off his wig, revealing maroon hair.

My blood ran (mildly) cold. "Dan." I was (mildly) scared. I mean, who wouldn't be? Even though I don't love him anymore, I was always scared of confronting him... alone. I could do all I want to fight him or try to get rid of him, but he would always be stronger than me (physically) and would never stop until he got my money. Not only that, but this guy is crazy! Who the hell would dress up as someone's friend to lure that someone away from everyone and confront her? A sick, crazy psychopath, that's who.

"Hello, ~Lulu-chi." Dan replied with a smirk.

I sweat-dropped. "You've got to stop with that name."

"Why would I? You used to always blush when I called you that. What happened to make that change?"

I decided to be blunt with it. I wanted to get away from this creep as fast as possible. "Dan, I don't love you anymore. Whatever you're trying to do won't work if I don't have any feelings for you, so give up."

The man's face twisted in anger. He tightened his hold on my wrist and pushed me hard against the wall, caging me in with his arms. I (mildly) flinched. "You think I care about your silly love? I don't want your love, nor do I care about it. I want your money. You should know that by now. Making you fall in love with me wasn't my goal, it was getting your -what? Millions, no, billions of dollars. I don't need your stupid love. You see, ~Lulu-chi, I could use just about anything in your life to get what I want. I could, perhaps, threaten to spread a false rumor about you. I could ruin your reputation in Fairy Tail. I could threaten to make your friends hate you and make you lonely again. Or I could threaten to hurt your little 'friends'. I could threaten to harm your father's business. Or," he made his lip tremble and bat his eyelashes mockingly, "I could hurt poor. Little. Natsu."

And all I saw was burning red. Throughout his little tirade, I had been standing here, quietly stewing in my own anger and stopping myself from harming him. Threatening me and my reputation was fine, I could deal with that. I'd dealt with it all my childhood anyway. But threatening my friends and family were a totally different thing. And I was not going to stand for it.

With a yell, I kicked Dan. Right. In. His. Family. Jewels. The effect was immediate. The "man" screeched in pain and let go of my wrists to curl up into a painful, little ball.

I stood over the crumpled figure and huffed, "That's what you get for messing with me, Dan, "I hissed, "Threatening me is one thing, but threatening my friends and family is another. You can try all you want to get my money, but I'm stronger than you think, and you sure as hell know quite well how strong my friends are. We won't fall easily.

"Dan, I knew you were trouble when you walked in-to my life, but I never knew why. Now I know. I want you to get out of my and my friends' lives and just leave us alone. You're a sick, creepy stalker who just won't give up! Open your eyes, Dan! Coming to Fairy Tail has not benefited you at all. What have you achieved these past two months? Nothing! You were beaten up by my friends, ignored by many, and kicked in the balls by me! Why won't you just take the hint that you can't get what you want and leave?!"

I took a few deep breaths to calm myself before continuing, "Dan, I'll just say it one more time. Leave me and my friends alone."

I turned around , feeling pretty proud of myself. That is, until I felt Dan grip my ankle tightly, causing me to fall. I broke my fall by landing on my hands. By the time I turned around to look behind me, Dan was already hovering above me, a furious expression marring his features. He raised his fist as if to punch me. I squeezed my eyes shut, feeling my heart pound heavily against my chest and hearing my heartbeat deep in my ears. I braced myself for the hit, all-the-while praying that Natsu would come and save me.

And he did.

I opened my eyes to see Dan lying on the cold hard ground a few meters away with Natsu on top, his knees pinning the man's arms. All I could see was a flurry of punches to Dan's face.

Natsu snarled at the maroon-haired student underneath him, his onyx eyes flashing dangerously. As he punched him, Natsu growled, "I" punch "thought I" punch "told you" punch punch "to" punch "leave" punch "Lucy" punch "alone" punch "you motherfucker!" punch punch punch (etc.)

As soon as I started to see blood, I lurched forward to stop Natsu from doing any more damage. "Natsu! That's enough! I think Dan's had enough."

Natsu reluctantly got up with clenched fists. "No, Luce. It's not enough. This bastard just won't stop! He needs more..."

I gently held Natsu's fist with one hand and placed the other on his shoulder. My salmon-haired savior turned to look at me, his eyes still cold and hard. I smiled gently at him and his eyes softened.

"Alright," Natsu sighed as he ruffled his hair with the other hand, "let's go then."

And we left Dan lying there, groaning and with a bloody nose, split lip, and blackened eye.

When I noticed that we weren't going back to the dance, I asked Natsu, "Where are we going?"

"We're going home."

"Whaaaat? Whyyyyyy?"

Natsu chuckled a bit. "It's getting late and after all that, I'm sure all you want to do is rest."

I nodded silently. He was right. How was it that he always knew what I wanted?

We grabbed our things from our lockers and headed out. After a few minutes of walking in silence, Natsu spoke up, "Luce, I'm so, so sorry."

I looked at him confused, "What do you mean?"

"If only I had gotten to you earlier, you wouldn't have gone looking for me and run into Dan."

I shook my head. "No Natsu, it wasn't your fault. I should have stayed put like you told me to. And if it's anybody's fault, it's Dan's."

"But-"

"Natsu." We stopped and I looked him in the eye, seeing the remorse and guilt that Natsu held. "It's not your fault. You did find me before anything got out of hand and saved me. Thank you for that." I smiled at him. "You're always there to save me, Natsu. So really, thank you for being there and for dealing with me."

Natsu laughed, "And thank you for putting up with me for the past couple of months."

I giggled along with him as we continued our trek to my penthouse. Suddenly, I remembered something. "Oh yeah, where were you earlier? And how did you know I was missing?"

"Well, I was looking for non-alcoholic drinks pretty much the whole time. Do you know how hard it is trying to find a drink that Cana didn't spike? Yeah, very hard. Anyway, after I finally found a couple, I made my way back onto the dance floor, but you weren't there. Then I eventually found Erza and asked her where you were. She told me that you had just gone off to look for me. So then I got worried and ran through the whole school and eventually found you... on the floor... with Dan about to punch you..." his fists tightened and his knuckles turned white.

I took one of his fists into my hands and held it. By this time, we were in front of my apartment building. "Natsu," I said. He looked at me and my heart fluttered. No Lucy, now's not the time. "I-I" I swallowed thickly, "T-thank you for tonight. I had a lot of fun at the dance."

Natsu grinned cheekily and pointed his thumb to himself. "See? I told you you could trust me!"

I laughed, "Yeah, I'm glad I did. Anyway, thank you Natsu. For everything." And, feeling pretty daring after all that happened, I hugged him.

Both our faces turned bright red. Natsu rubbed the back of his neck and smiled at me. "N-No problem, Luce. I had fun tonight too. W-well, I'll see you Monday, then."

I smiled back, "Y-Yeah. Good night."

"Happy Halloween."

"Happy Halloween."

After Natsu left, I went up to my penthouse on the top floor and stepped inside. "Dad? I'm home."

Hearing snoring coming from the office, I walked inside and found my father sleeping with his head on the desk. I smiled and kissed the top of his head as a good-night, but I accidentally woke him up.

"Hmm? Lucy, you're home?" he asked groggily.

"Yes, I... decided to go home early." I didn't want him to worry about Dan. He's already stressed as is with work.

"I see. How was it?"

"It was really fun! Fairy Tail really is the best."

"That's good," he yawned and looked at the clock. "Well, that's enough for today. I'm glad you enjoyed your night, Lucy. Now get to bed, young lady."

I laughed, "Alright. Good night, dad."

He smiled. "Good night."

I trudged over to my room and changed into some comfortable pajamas. Then I went to my bathroom to brush my teeth and wash up.

I was met with the boxes and boxes of different makeup. All of it reminded me of Dan, of the times I wanted to make him happy and look pretty enough for him. I grimaced at the hundred-dollars worth of useless junk. I shook my head. Not anymore.

I grabbed a large trash bag from the kitchen and dumped all of the repulsive makeup into it. I tied the knot, sealing away the memories of Dan, and left it outside for the garbage-men to take away. Back inside my bathroom with only a simple, pink lip-gloss, I wiped my hands.

I was 100% done with Dan.

Hey everyone! I'm so so so so sorry for 1. not updating for two weeks and 2. updating pretty late. I hope that this really long chapter makes up for it T^T Also, I'll be away next week for my uncle's wedding, so I might not be able to update :( (sorry!) But I'll try to write more of the next chapter and update more the following week (Key word: try)...
Anyway, yay! Lucy's finally done with Dan! Yeesh, that took a while. What could she be feeling for Natsu, hmmmm? And what other obstacles could be coming her way? :O
Like always, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to those who have favorited, are following, and have reviewed this fanfic. You guys are AMAZING and are the reason I keep going! THANK YOU :D