An: Chapters might have a longer wait time now. I'm trying to finish my other fic, and was thinking about participating in CoLu week. So bare with me please.
Anyways hope you enjoy the chapter.
Lucy POV
Ever since we returned from our ride out to the cliff, and walk to the waterfall I had been avoiding Laxus, and everyone else. Locking myself in my room I laid on the bed replaying what had happened over and over again. The feel of his calloused fingers brushing against my cheek, sweeping the stray strands away, or the feel of his breath blowing over my face as he hovered over me, or the feel of him tickling me- the memories all brought on a feeling that I hadn't been expecting. It was completely different than the emotion Gray or Natsu's touch invoked, and was closer to the racing of my heart feeling that I felt each time I was near Gajeel. Catching my hand tracing over where Laxus had touched me I began slamming my head back into the pillow. I repeated the action several times before stopping because of the wave of dizziness that passed through me. No Lucy get that thought out of your head right now. Laxus is just a friend, nothing more. It's too soon to have found someone else anyways. You still have feelings for Gajeel, and part of you still wants him back, and wants to believe that he'll change this time. You don't want to rush into anything anyways, you could wind up getting hurt again. "I really need to stop having these internal conversations with myself, it's starting to freak me out." Closing my eyes I accidentally dozed off.
At the sound of knocking on my door I sat up in bed abruptly and swung my legs over the edge, letting them dangle while I straightened out my clothes and hair. "One moment!"
"Lucy you're late for dinner." Ever said through the door.
Glancing at the clock on the stand I cursed. "Okay I'll be down in a five minutes!"
Tearing through the closet I chose a modest baby blue dress, nothing like the ball gown I had to wear the night before. It was a floor length empire waist dress with sheer sleeves, perfect for a casual dinner amongst friends, which is what dinner was supposed to be but I had a feeling those four would be dressed to the 'T' in hopes of impressing the royals. Summoning Cancer with a thought I sat still as he did my makeup and hair in record time. Instead of curls we kept my hair straight and pulled it to the side, letting it drape over my right shoulder. Slipping into my shoes as I made it to the door I collided head first into the Dragon Slayer I had been avoiding. "Oh, sorry Laxus." I said pushing off of him and taking several steps back.
Grunting he held out his arm and waited for me to place my hand on it. Gingerly doing so, as if it might bite, I walked in step with him as he guided me down the stairs and into the dinning room. "I'm so sorry. The outing today must have worn me out more than I thought." I said with a small laugh as I sat in the seat between Hisui and Laxus.
The four girls all shared a look before Annette replied. "Yes it did seem like you and Lance were quite exhausted and disheveled after you two disappeared."
Feeling the stares of the King and Uedas I remained composed and tore down down what she was implying. "Yes we found the prettiest waterfall further along the path. The spray of the water felt nice, and I couldn't resist and splashed Lance. Fortunately he wasn't mad and we made a game of it. By the time we had dried off, I didn't realize how much time had passed or how far away it was until we began walking back to you guys."
"I know the place you're talking about, that's my wife and I's favorite spot." Edward said, taking his wife's hand in his as he looked into her eyes lovingly. While they were lost in their memories their kids waved the waiters to bring the food.
Glad that the spot light was off of Laxus and I, I held in a smirk at the annoyed look on Annette's face.
Stretching out on the seat in the carriage I was extremely glad to see the Ueda mansion become a spec in the distance.
"I don't think I've seen you this relaxed in a couple of days Lucy. You really don't like these social events do you?" Hisui said watching me from across the carriage.
"I honestly don't. In my experience everyone is scheming in one way or another to get ahead in life, and those who are actually decent human beings end up getting hurt. Plus you can never tell when someone is truly your friend without having some alternate agenda.
"It also doesn't help that I have to wear all of these dresses either, or hide my true self. I love my magic and love having the freedom to wear what I want, when I want without people judging me. It's liberating."
"Then that must mean you view me like that too." She said, not looking offended, only thoughtful.
"No, I don't think of you as someone like Annette and her clones. As I said, there are those who aren't backstabbing liars. And I think you and the Ueda's are among those few. I saw how you wanted to help during the dragon attack you even refused to go into hiding and helped with the evacuation. If you were like the dreaded four you would have run for the hills the first change you got."
Nodding her head in thought silence descended as I looked out of the window.
"Oh I meant to talk to you and the others yesterday, but since the kidnapping attempt we've had one family back out. A family emergency suddenly came up and they left their estate. Considering there was supposed to be another, um party daddy and I decided to let it go. So that opens up a couple of days for us, and since we're so close to Fairy Tail-"
"No, we can't go there." I interrupted, before she could finish her offer.
"Okay..."
"Sorry. No one knows what mission we took, and we'd like to keep it that way."
"She's right." Laxus said without looking at us or taking off his sound pods.
"Also if we were to be caught at Fairy Tail, that is well known around Fiore and the neighboring countries then that would put our identities at risk. And warn the enemies that you have employed mages." Freed said, further backing my outburst.
"Well there goes my plan and leaves us with no where to go for four days. Where do you suggest we go then?" She asked, exasperated.
"There's Akane Resort." Evergreen said jokingly.
"Ever... She wasn't being serious Hisui." I said when I saw her actually considering it.
The princess was silent for a minute before she pulled out a lacrima. "Daddy? Fairy Tail won't work but we can go to the nearby resort... Yes I know how expensive that will be... I know, but where else could we go? ...Mhmmm... Really? Thanks daddy!" She said happily before ending the call with her father. "We're a go for Akane resort. I'll call them and let them know we will be there in two days, by then they should have our suite ready."
We all looked at her in shock. It must be nice having enough money to do whatever you want whenever you feel like it. I thought, shaking my head and returning my gaze to the passing scenery. Even when I lived at the Heartfilia Estate I wasn't allowed to buy what I wanted. My dad kept all of our money locked up tight, making it untouchable to everyone but me.
Once she got over her shock Ever squealed in excitement, after Hisui hung up on the excited resort manager. Both of them got to talking about the things we would do and all of the cute bikinis they could buy while there.
Luckily an hour after Hisui's announcement we stopped so we could switch from the carriages to the private train. With more room, came more places to cover so I offered to patrol the train so I could get some peace and quiet to think and clear my head. Its not that I wasn't happy about our change in plans because I was, but the amount of tension between Laxus and I was stifling. We hadn't spoken a single word to each other since dinner last night and I could tell that the others sensed that something was amiss between the two of us.
After walking back and forth through the train once, I decided to get some exercise in and ran from one end to the other and back again. Panting the whole way, I collapsed in one of the nearby chairs when I was done. Glancing at the clock I saw how long it had taken me to run the five train lengths back and forth once - seven minutes... I really need to build up my stamina and speed. I thought leaning my head back.
"If that small run makes you tired we have our work cut out for us." Laxus scoffed as he walked out of the bathroom.
"Wh-what do you mean?" Catching my breath I glanced at him before feeling my cheeks warm up and quickly looking away.
"It was a group decision that we should train you. No time like the present right?" He said shrugging out of his coat, revealing his bulging arms. Tossing his coat and sound pods on an empty seat he walked closer to me with his palms out. "Punch them as hard as you can."
I looked from his face to his palms, shaking my head, refusing to play his game. "No."
"What you scared?" He teased smirking at me.
"No."
"Don't you want to know how to defend yourself so you don't get kidnapped anymore? How many times has that happened, four... five times?" Laughing he stopped advancing on me and waited.
"Just when I think everyone's wrong about you, you go and act like a total jack-wad." I growled before giving into temptation. "Lucy kick!" I yelled, aiming for his chest instead of his waiting hands.
"That's it. Give it your all." He said, not even moving an inch after catching my foot midair.
Releasing my anger at his earlier comment I wiggled my foot free of his hold and backed away. "Sorry Laxus."
Shrugging off my apology he brought his hands to his side. "It's a sore subject, I know. Why do you think I brought it up? You need hand to hand combat training. What happens if you lose your keys?...and whip." He added when he saw my mouth open to speak. "They can't take away your hands - eh they most likely won't do that; depends on the people."
"Yeah I guess... but Loke and Capricorn tried teaching me, I didn't take to it though." I sighed, ashamed that my own spirits had given up trying to teach me a few months back.
"I've seen the way you treat your spirits. The problem with them trainin' you is that you don't want to hurt them. I'm not sayin' you want to hurt me, but you hurtin' them is the last thing you want to do, even if it's accidental which is why you're holdin' back... Don't deny it, I've seen you 'Lucy Kick' the two idiots on your team more than enough times for doing somethin' stupid, but out of all of the times Loke has popped up while you're taking a bath I have never heard him or you say that you 'Lucy Kicked' him.
"Face it, you're incapable of hurting them."
"..." Thinking about it, I knew he was right. But how did he know that, he'd have to have been watching and listening to catch on to something even I hadn't realized, let alone my team, ex-boyfriend, and spirits. Feeling myself blush I averted my eyes and straightened myself out. "So you'll cover my combat training, what about the others?" I asked curious to what the others could teach me.
"You'll have to ask them, that is if you want to be trained."
"Fine." I said before turning away to continue my patrol.
"Where do you think you're going, we aren't done yet."
"But I have to patrol."
"Dragon Slayer remember? I'll sense it before you, even if you were patrolling."
"Right..." I mumbled to myself, returning to my spot in front of him.
"But... since you're so eager to get moving run to the front of the train and back two more times. You have ten minutes."
"But it took me seven minutes just to run that once!"
"I know." He nodded, still looking at the clock on the wall. "Nine minutes twenty-five seconds. If you're not done in time, you're going to do it again until you successfully do it." I wasted a precious ten seconds gaping at him, before taking off.
It took me three more tires after that to get my time to ten minutes. But that was after much begging and pleading for a bathroom break, where I ignored his growling and rested for a good ten minutes. Because of my ploy, he added on thirty push ups at the end, but I didn't mind those - I had to keep my arm strength up considering I used a whip all of the time, and even had to hang on for dear life on occasion. He hadn't been expecting that. I smirked remembering his look of surprise when I finished the push ups without a sweat.
"We're finally here!" Ever said propelling herself off of the train and into the crisp autumn air. Clearing his throat Laxus caught Ever's attention and directed her to go ahead of us and scout out the immediate area for anything suspicious.
It was amazing how good their non-verbal communication was; I wish Team Natsu could work together so flawlessly... and without so much destruction. Jolted out of my thoughts by a hand on my shoulder, I stumbled out of the train behind Hisui and followed her to the desk to get our room keys and passes. Once we got them Laxus and Freed went up to check the rooms before we could leave the lobby. Watching Hisui and Ever thumbing through the latest issue of Sorcerer Weekly through the corner of my eye I tilted my head at Bickslow's inquisitive look.
"Is something wrong Bickslow?"
"What's going on between you and Laxus?"
"N-Nothing." I said unconvincingly since I knew my cheeks bloomed red as the memory of our waterfall encounter flitted through my mind.
"Neither of you are fooling anyone, I hope you know. If you like him so much then do something about it." He said crossing his arms, and waggling his eyebrows at me, indicating that he was thinking something naughty.
Growing redder I thought for a second. "Even if there was something happening, I'm not saying there is, I wouldn't be able to do anything about it. Gaje-"
"Is a prick for doing what he did."
"I guess, but I'm not any where close to being over him. I still think about him throughout the day, wondering how he's doing, what he's doing and whether or not he's thinking about me as much as I think about him. I know I should be mad, pissed off at how he treated me but all I've been able to think about are all of the good times we had, and how happy I was with him... I-I shouldn't be bothering you with this, sorry Bickslow." I mumbled when I saw him tense up while I was talking.
"Cosplayer I want to know, I wouldn't have said something otherwise. It just pisses me off to think that he could have hurt you so much. Half of the guys in the guild would kill to have you as their girlfriend, and for him to take that for granted..." He trailed off shaking his head.
"Re-really?" Nodding his head I gave him a watery smile. They were all so nice, how did everyone not see that? Reaching up I grabbed the edge of his mask and slowly removed it, giving him plenty of time to stop me if I was making him uncomfortable, or if he wanted to keep it on. When he made no move to stop me I pulled it completely off and held it at my side. "That's better." I said smiling at the concern I say in his dark red eyes, before continuing from where I had left off. "Although he did what he did, I can't be mad at him, I love him too much for that. Even though I shouldn't a part of me still wants to be with him, and hopes that this time is different and he will actually change.
"But even if he lets us announce our relationship to the guild, I still won't be comfortable with him hanging out with Levy all of the time. Some part of him wants her... and likes her more than a friend, and it's that part I'm afraid of. What if he decides to choose Levy over me, could I handle seeing them everyday? Or worse what if he chooses me, but hasn't resolved his feelings for Levy? I don't want to tell him not to hang out with Levy, but I don't see a way around it..."
"Hmmm, that is a tough one. But you're thinking more about what he wants rather than what you want and what's best for you. It's not his heart that was broken, so start thinking about yourself instead of him."
"... I guess I could but-"
"No, no second guessing yourself or feeling guilty. You focus on everyone else' happiness to much, it's alright to focus on yourself every so often." Glancing to the stairwell door that opened as Laxus strode through and signaled us that it was all clear, Bickslow took his mask from my hands and gave my hand a squeeze. "He ain't the only slayer that'd be happy to date you. Think about it, Cosplayer." He said putting his mask back in place and catching up with everyone else at the elevators. Filling up the first one with royal guards Ever and Hisui, Bickslow and I waited for the next.
"Think about what?" Laxus asked giving the two of us a strange look as he joined us in the second elevator.
"Just a proposition." Bickslow laughed sticking out his tongue and wagging his eyebrows at me.
"Damn it Bicks, we talked 'bout this. Do what you like as long as it doesn't affect this team, and she's part of the team for now." He said giving Bickslow a stern look. Mockingly saluting Laxus he steped into the elevator doors that had just opened up, pretending to mind his own business but I could tell he was keeping an eye on us.
Looking to from Bickslow to me his shoulders sagged. "I don't know what he said to you, but I'm sorry. Bicks can get out of hand sometimes with his jokes." He said glaring at said mage.
"Bu-"
"Yeah Cosplayer I'm sorry." Bickslow gave me the same stern look Laxus had just given him. Clearly he didn't want our previous conversation repeated.
At a loss for words I watched as Laxus tore through Bickslow for doing something he hadn't done. Placing a staying hand on his shoulder, I felt a shock before quickly removing my hand. "Laxus really, it's alright I know he was joking."
Looking to see if I was truly fine with whatever he thought Bickslow had said to me he stopped his lecture. "If you say so, but if he makes you uncomfortable in anyway just consider any 'Lucy Kicks' you land on him as practice."
Laughing at the Seith Mage's face I walked out of the sliding doors and headed to one of suites we had gotten. Opening the door I was dragged in by an over excited Ever. "You took forever to get here! We're ready to go, hurry up and get your suit on and we can head out together."
"Uh, I didn't bring a suit. What?! Don't look at me like that, formal dinners and protecting the princess rarely calls for swim suits."
"Ugh! We'll have to go buy one then." She sighed looking disappointed at the prospect of shopping.
"No you go ahead, I'll go find one at the shops and meet you all at the big pool. Where'd Hisui go?" I asked not seeing her in the suite anywhere.
"Oh she told us to enjoy ourselves, and that she'd see us tomorrow. She has a lacrima date with her future hubby. Don't worry about security, she promised not to leave her suite, so Freed already put runes around her rooms, plus she has her regular guards." Tossing Laxus and Bickslow their swim trunks she ran out of the room, dragging them along. "We'll be at the deepest part of the pool, you won't be able to miss us."
Closing the door behind them I sprawled out on the couch and pulled out my lacrima to call the guild. "Hey Mira! How's it going?"
"Lucy, it's so good to hear from you. Everything is fine here, we're just missing your smiling face. How's the mission going?"
"It's... it's different than what I expected, but everything is fine. We had a hiccup two days ago, but nothing we couldn't handle. It's different working with these guys, instead of my team... Speaking of my team are they there?" I asked wanting to speak to them and explain why I never told them about Gajeel.
"Erza and Gray are out on a mission but Natsu is here, let me get him for you." She said placing the lacrima down on the desk so all I could see was the ceiling. "Natsu get out here Lu-"
"Lushii?" I heard Happy scream before a blur a blue passed over the lacrima.
"Lucy? Is she back?" Natsu was a second behind his exceed.
"She's on the lacrim-"
Mid-sentence Natsu and Happy's excited faces appeared, only to fall when they got a look at me. "Are you alright Lucy?" Natsu asked, looking concerned.
"Uh, yeah why?"
"You look a little worn out, and like you've lose some weight. Have you been sleeping well and eating enough?"
"Well Happy should be glad, hopefully he'll stop saying I'm too heavy to carry." I said with an annoyed laugh, remembering the last time Happy had complained about my weight.
"I didn't mean it Lucy! Please don't be mad!" Happy wailed, big crocodile tears threatening to spill over.
"I know Happy, don't worry I'm not mad. Why aren't you two on the mission with Gray and Erza?"
"Haha, funny story. You remember when you guys couldn't find us for a couple of hours during the last mission? Well it turns out that the park I chased the bandits in is protected because of the endangered animals that live there. How was I supposed to know it was protected?" Natsu whined when Happy began snickering.
"Natsu, tell me you didn't..."
"I swear I didn't know! I accidentally burned a little part -"
"More like half." Happy interjected, still laughing at Natsu's fearful look he was giving me.
"No, it wasn't half! there was still trees standing on the otherside of the river the fire didn't get that far. Anyways Master and Mira decided it would be best if I stayed at the guild and help Mira around the guild to pay back the fee they wound up paying for me since we got our reward."
"Natsu! How could you think that burning down a forest wasn't a bad thing?" I asked incredulously.
"I was just so mad at what they said that I lost control. But you got your rent money, so it's not all bad."
Sighing I shook my head. "You need to work on your destructive habits."
"The next mission we go on I promise." Natsu said glad I wasn't angry at the new development. He was right I did get my rent, but I felt bad that the animals were out half of their home.
"Anything else I need to know about?"
"Shhh... no we'll ask her when she gets back." Happy whispered, trying to cover Natsu's mouth.
Giving them a suspicious look I sat up on the couch and leaned my elbows on my knees. "Ask me what? Is it about Gajeel, he's the main reason why I wanted to talk to you. I wanted to tell you I'm sorry for not telling you sooner about our relationship. You're my best friend Natsu and I never wanted to hide it from you, and I shouldn't have... it's just that I wanted to make him happy and not scare him off."
"Lucy we know. Gajeel told us everything. We aren't mad, well we were hurt at first but now we just want you to take all the time you need and do whatever you need to do. Don't worry about Gajeel, we... spoke to him, and he understands that there is no way we'd let him follow you."
"Thanks Natsu." I whispered, surprised that he had taken it so well, and that he had actually thought the situation out and wasn't leading the masses to find me. Hearing a nearby clock chime, I turned away from the lacrima to see that we had been talking for close to an hour. "I have to go Natsu, but I'll call you again soon! Give everyone my love, and feel free to eat the food in my apartment, it'll just go to waste if you don't."
"Thanks Lucy. Be careful." Natsu waved before shutting off the lacrima.
I miss them terribly, but I'm glad to be away. I never would have gotten to know these four otherwise.
"Princess, brother said you would be needing this." Virgo appeared with a bag in her outstretched hands.
"Oh thanks..." I trailed off when she vanished the second she passed it over. Looking into the bag I pulled out two scraps of fabric and blushed, Loke had picked out a hot pink bikini for me while I was talking to Natsu. It was even the right size...how he knew what size to get me I didn't want to know, and decided it was best to not think about it. Sending him my thanks through his key I stepped into the bathroom and changed before grabbing a dress to put on over it and headed out of the room with my keys in tow, including the suite key.
Following the signs to the indoor water park and giant pool, I window shopped on the way making a mental list of what places I would take Hisui and Ever tomorrow. My nose was glued to one shop's window when I heard familiar laughter coming from a few stores down. Warily turning my head I saw the one person I didn't want to see and Levy together. One minute they were talking and the next Levy threw herself into his arms and wrapped her own around his neck. Feeling the sting of tears, I sniffled, trying to hold them in and backed away from the couple no longer able to see the detail of their faces as the tears gathered. Bumping into a clothes display I cursed when I saw Gajeel's head turn at the noise, right as I decided to book it back to our suite.
"Lucy! I swear it's not what it looks like." Gajeel shouted, after he saw me standing there, looking at him and Levy embracing. Quickly pushing Levy away he ran towards me, stopping my retreat with a hand on my arm.
Facing him, I slowly slid my arm out of his hold, "It's fine really. We did break up after all." I said unable to hold in my sadness I gave him a small smile and waved to my best friend who was left standing where Gajeel had left her. Although Gajeel was happy to see me, Levy didn't share his enthusiasm.
Trying to grab a hold of me again, I avoided his reach and stepped back. "No please believe me. I literally just ran into her. I am on a mission to act as a security detail for some rich snob, I swear I didn't know she'd be here." My facial expression must have expressed my doubt because he growled and ran his hands through his hair. "Damn it! I'm telling you the truth here. I haven't spent anytime with her since the day after you left. Hell you could even ask Gray and Erza, they're here with me...somewhere." He said looking defeated when he didn't see them nearby.
"Just give me ten minutes so we can talk. I've - I guess I've missed you..." He trailed off when I flinched away from him once again. "Damn Bunny I'm close to beggin' here. You know I'm not good at this kind of thing. I promise I won't try to touch you again, and if you don't like the topic then just say so and we will talk about something else-"
I wasn't going to give him 10 seconds let alone ten minutes until I saw Erza and Gray come out of the cake and ice cream parlor that Gajeel had been standing in front of. He never was one for sweets. I thought as I continued my silence, enjoying his squirming.
"Lucy!" Gray waved, about to make his way over to us but was stopped by Erza when she saw who I was talking to. Silently asking if I needed her to drag Gajeel away I hesitantly shook my head.
"What do you want to hear?! Do you want to hear that Lily left me to deal with my shit because he is upset with the way I handled things? Or that I've spent the past six days lying awake worrying about you and wishing I could do it all over again. I just want ten minutes. Please." He gritted out the last pleading with his eyes and restraining himself from touching me like I knew he wanted to.
"No- I mean I wasn't shaking my head at you. Erza is- oh never mind." I sighed before walking away. When I didn't sense him following I turned around. "Well are you coming?" Pulling his hands out of his hair, he looked relieved as he caught up to me.
Leading him to the spot where the five of us had staked out for the day I was glad to see that they were there playing in the heated pool close by. Well everyone but Laxus who stood just out of the water watching over his team. When he noticed my approached he turned around and simply lifted his brows in question at my choice of company. Seeing the air around him ruffle his hair I stepped closer to Gajeel, knowing that Laxus wouldn't shock him while I was so close.
Laxus POV.
"Laxus what do you think you're doing? You'll shock us all if you release your lightnin- oh Lucy...is with Gajeel. What the hell does he think he's doing here. He has some nerve showing up here, we'll see how much he likes the pool when he's sinking to the bottom of it." Ever smirked evilly, reaching for her sun glasses.
"Cool it Ever. She doesn't want us to interfere."
"But-"
"If I hear anything I don't like you can do what you want."
"Piece of shit doesn't deserve any of her time."
"Shit. Shit."
"If that is what Lucy wishes, but I don't understand why she brought him here to talk. She does know that Laxus-sama is going to be able to hear, doesn't she?"
"You're right Freed. But I think that's the whole point. She knows that we're here for her if things go poorly." Ever said, still keeping a close eye on the two.
She chose us over Gray and Erza to keep an eye on her? After six days? My thought was proved false when I saw her two teammates crest the hill and stop in a couple of seats by Lucy and Gajeel. Obviously Lucy had seen them, and was glad to see them by the wave of happiness that poured off of her, and by how she waved to them before returning her attention to her ex.
What's wrong with me? Ever since our outing yesterday I've been having some seriously strange thoughts concerning the blonde. Hell I knew I was attracted to her before, and had been since I caught a glimpse of her before Fantasia. But lately I've felt my feelings change. Now wasn't the time to dwell on that, I needed to focus on what was happening in front of me. I thought as I sensed her nervousness. "One wrong move." I threatened the Iron Dragon Slayer when he looked my way.
Gajeel POV
Listening to the Thunder God Tribe's plan to protect Bunny I half resented them and was half relieved that she had someone with her to do whatever mission she was on. And when she protected me from the Lightning Rod's imminent attack I knew she still cared for me and that I had some chance of gettin' her back.
"One wrong move" Laxus warned, looking me dead in the eye completely serious. Damn nosey bastard.
"Gajeel, you wanted to talk so talk." Bunny said sitting on the towel.
Making sure to keep my promise I sat far enough in front of her that there was no risk of us touching. "How have you been? The mission going well?" She hadn't been expecting me to talk about something so unrelated to our relationship, I could tell.
"Uh...yeah it's going well. We're only six days into it though so hopefully it continues on as it has."
"That's good."
"So you said Lily left? Where did he go?"
"Went with Happy and Carla to the Exceed village."
"Wait I just talked to Happy... are you sure he left?"
"Yeah I saw him and Carla off before I left for this job. Maybe he came back early, he does have an issue with leaving Flame Brain for too long."
"True..." Sitting in an awkward silence for a minute she avoided making eye contact as I took her in. She had a little more color to her skin, but still had the bags under her eyes she had been trying to hide before she had left. "Lets cut the crap Gajeel. What's the real topic you wanted to talk about?"
"I do want to know how you're doin' Bunny. I wasn't lyin' 'bout that.
"I just want you to know I'm trying to come up with some way to show you that I've changed or am trying to change. The last time I talked to Levy was a week ago and after that I left the guild; I had run off to find you and drag you back but Natsu isn't as thick headed as I assumed and made me realize I'd only hurt you more if I ignored your wishes. So I've stopped trying to find you... it's hell waiting for you to come back home but I'm willing to do it for you. Just promise me that you won't make any decisions before you come back and we talk some more... in private next time."
"Gajeel... I don't know. I can't lie and say I don't miss you because I do. But what about Levy? How could you resolve your feelings for her in six days and why was she all over you a few minutes ago?"
"I'm sure Bunny, completely sure that it's you that I want, not her. I don't know why she's here, or how she knew where I'd be but I didn't invite her. I wasn't lying when I said I haven't talked to her since you left. She keeps coming up to me and I keep avoidin' her."
"I never said you had to avoid her... that's the exact opposite of what I wanted you to do!"
"If she is standing in the way of us being together then I won't be seein' her no more." Resisting the urge to sooth the worried marks off of her brow I watched as she bit her bottom lip as she thought. "You don't owe me anythin' but please don't decide anythin' until we've had more time to talk. Here, this is my lacrima info, if you feel like talk' just give me a ring." I said quickly digging into my back pocket for receipt I knew was in there so I could write on it. She stared at the piece of paper, not reaching for it. Placing it down underneath one of the shoes that belonged to the four eavesdroppers I stood up, my ten minutes over. "Anytime Bunny, night or day I'll answer."
Getting one last good look at her I walked past Erza and Gray to get back to our room.
AN: Let me know what you thought. Please and thank you!
kamy4: Beginning to like her, or beginning to acknowledge his feelings for her? Hmmmm. Lol
MotherAya: Haha same here, but I do have my favorite pairings, and LaLu is among them.
Cow-Lover2214: Haha thanks! I'm in the same boat as you. It would have been nice if they had kissed but it's only been a few days since she broke up with Gajeel. X[
Bigr3d: Sorry for the confusion. When Laxus and Lucy walked away from the picnic, they were alone- the guards and Thunder Legion remained with the princess. So Lucy was able to call Laxus by his real name. He will only be referred to as Lance when there are people around who don't know who he really is - which are all of the nobles, unless I mention otherwise.
Hope that clears things up for you!
Daddys little crazy bitch: You're wish is my command. Lol. At least partly.
OgaxHilda: That would be messed up, but I don't think that's how its gonna end up. Also this will not be a NaLu, sorry.
GingerLily01: There is always a chance that they can work things out. But it's getting harder and harder for me to decide who she should end up with.
LoVeStAr14: *Bangs head on the table* I completely forgot about the key! AGAIN! Gomen. :( Next chapter for sure - there is more training for her, other than Laxus making her run laps to increase her stamina.
Haha I've thought of that scenario... I may or may not include it in the end. ;)
kurahieiritr JIO: It will be interesting, hopefully the story will reveal its plans to me soon! Lol.
Grin like the Cheshire Cat: Thanks! I'm glad you are enjoying it.
Jessica Phantomhive: Haha, nothing has been decided yet, there is still hope!