Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail and/or the characters.
Erza walked into the guild at around 6:30 in morning to get a quick cup of coffee and maybe some breakfast. The guild usually opens at 7:00 am and only starts serving then but since the barmaid, Mirajane, is good friends with Erza she would allow her to have a cup of coffee as she started preparing for the day. If the guild was a mess, Ezra would help Mirajane out, if not, Mirajane wouldn't let Erza anywhere near even a cleaning rag since, as she reasoned it was "her responsibility". Erza respected her friend's request and would just resolve to chatting with Mirajane to help lighten her mood. Today, Erza was planning to get a head start with those missions she planned for the team by getting there early and choosing the most suitable one before anyone else gets them.
"Good morning Erza!" Mirajane called happily from across the guild, setting out clean cups and mugs at the bar.
"Good morning Mirajane," Erza replied curtly and frowned when she saw a tuft of blue hair at the bar. Normally, it would just be her and Mirajane in the morning chatting, and Erza helping out a bit, sometimes Makarov would swing by and check up on the guild. Which is why it was odd to see someone else up this early at the guild.
"Good morning Erza" the blue haired one replied in a rather groggy voice, as if to say they had just crawled out of bed.
"Good morning Levy," Erza replied and sat down beside her friend. Levy already had a mug of coffee in her hands and it was half finished. Mirajane set another mug down in front of Erza to which Erza replied to with "Thank you". Levy's coffee was a light brown as if to suggest that she liked hers with lots of cream and sugar, while Erza's was just plain black coffee.
"It's quite early for you to be up Levy," Erza stated
"I know" Levy yawned in agreement
"So, why are you awake?" Erza took a sip of her coffee
"I wanted to-" Levy was cut off by a yawn "talk to you"
"About?" Erza raised an eyebrow
"Lucy," Levy whispered "and Natsu. I'm really worried about them,"
"Ooh~! Are they official yet?" Mirajane popped in the conversation hoping to get a bit of this juicy gossip
"Well, not really..." Levy pursed her lips "Not yet I think"
"What do you mean by "Not yet you think"?" Erza frowned, ignoring Mirajane's squeal of "I knew it!"
"It's hard to explain but," Levy sighed "I guess I'll try"
Erza nodded for her to continue
"You see a few days ago, Natsu came to me asking me a really weird question. Something so out of the blue and awkward for him I guess" Levy shrugged "He asked me what love is"
"At first I kind of just laughed, saying I thought he didn't know love existed or something but he was very determined to find out everything there was about love; how you feel it, how you know it, etc. By the end of it, he just kinda looked pleased understanding it more, like he finally found a beacon of light in the dark or something, and then he stormed off somewhere"
"And then?" Erza urged
"That's it" Levy finished "I never really thought much about it honestly, I just thought maybe he ran off to confess his love to someone and honestly I thought it would either be Lucy or Lisanna"
"Well, it wasn't me" a voice called "In fact, I even prodded him about Lucy"
The three girls turned their attention to owner's voice, finding a smiling Lisanna at the other end of the bar, carrying a stack of clean plates.
"Lisanna!" Levy blushed not knowing she would be present
"Why are you here?" Erza asked "Not that it's a bad thing"
"She's helping me tend the bar" Mirajane replied casually
"Aww, you're making me sound like I'm just your assistant" Lisanna pouted, putting the plates down
"But a cute one" Mirajane winked
"Mira!" Lisanna blushed
"What it's true! Besides, I'm pretty sure a certain Lightning mage would agree" Mira smirked
"M-mira!" Lisanna blushed a darker shade of red and fumbled with the plate she was holding
"Oh my! Is there something going on between you and Laxus?" Levy inquired with her eyes sparkling and her hands clasped
"N-nothing," Lisanna turned her head
All the girls raised their eyebrows at her until Lisanna finally gave in, which to be honest, wasn't quite long.
"Ok fine, maybe there is something" Lisanna mumbled, looking away
Levy and Mirajane squealed while Erza nodded proudly in a "I-was-right" motion.
"So?" Levy pushed "What is it?"
"Well, the other day, he, uh," Lisanna blushed and murmured the next part "saidIlookedcuteandaskedmeout"
"OH MY MAVIS!" Mirajane exclaimed, rushing up to her sister "Where?"
"I...don't know," Lisanna bit her lip "he just said he'll pick me up later around 5:30"
"OH MY MAVIS!" Mirajane jumped "This is exciting! You should've told me earlier! Oh, I have to take an early leave tonight, I should tell Master... Oh this is going to be so fun! I'll help you with your hair and-"
"Big sister!" Lisanna sighed in exasperation "Don't make such a big deal out of it"
"Why not? He asked you out!" Mirajane pouted
"Well, I mean, I do want to look good but I don't want to look like I'm trying too hard" Lisanna shrugged
"Oh! How smart!" Mirajane stated in awe "Well, no matter, I'll still help you out"
"Of course," Lisanna winked
"Wait," Erza's brow furrowed in confusion "you said you prodded Natsu about Lucy, what do you mean?"
"Well, when Natsu and I went on a mission weeks ago, I asked him about his relationship with Lucy" Lisanna explained
"And what did he say?" Erza inquired
"Nothing," Lisanna sulked "he laughed at first then said they were just friends. Although, after that, he had acted a bit weird; he wasn't one to think about love and such, kind of a foreign subject to him. Maybe he was just caught off guard with my question."
"Maybe that's why he asked me what love is?" Levy blinked
"Could be," Lisanna nodded "he's not very familiar with the intimate kind of love. I hate to say it but man, he is really dense"
"He did seem really happy after the explanation, I mean before running off somewhere else. We were guessing he went off to confess to that person he loved," Levy sighed
"But if Natsu didn't confess to Lisanna then..." Erza contemplated
"He confessed his love to Lucy?!" Lisanna gasped "When?"
"We're just assuming this, if not you, then Lucy is our best bet" Erza shrugged
"Well, if he asked me what love was on Tuesday, then ran off so probably the same day. Tuesday should have been the day he confessed! Oh, I bet Lucy was so happy!" Levy finished with mirth
"Then why are they acting so distant..." Erza frowned for the Mavis knows how many times she did that morning
"As much I want it to be true," Mirajane's demeanour turned serious "it can't be possible. Lucy was still on her mission with Gray on Tuesday because she got back on Wednesday."
"Then maybe he told her on Wednesday?" Erza suggested
"But that was the day we saw Natsu looking pissed and he was so lost in thought he wouldn't even say hi" Levy pondered "I don't think he would've acted like that unless, Lucy denied him, say she didn't love him back but-"
"She does love him" Erza cut her off
"Uhm," Mirajane bit her lower lip "I don't think he even got the chance to confess in the first place..."
"What do you mean?" Erza asked
"Wednesday was yesterday right? The day you guys got back to the guild and found it was a mess? Well, as usual, it was Natsu's and Gray's bawling. At first, everyone thought it would end the same way but then Natsu got really serious and for a minute there it looked like he was really going to eliminate Gray" Mirajane explained
"And then what? You said "it looked like" so he was stopped I presume?" Levy asked
"Yup," Mirajane said with a strained smile "by Lucy"
"But I don't get it..." Levy frowned "doesn't Lucy always stop them?"
"Yeah, by friendly persuasion...if that's what you want to call it" Mirajane whispered the last part
"So what? How did she stop him?" Erza pushed
"She slapped Natsu..." Mirajane mimicked the action by softly patting her cheek
"Doesn't she always slap him?" Erza was getting a bit impatient
"For being a dense idiot," Mirajane shook her head "she slapped him because he said something really hurtful"
"And why help him?"
She slapped him.
"Why help him?!" Lucy repeated his question glaring at him "he's your friend, your teammate! How could you possibly say something like that?!"
Natsu was quiet.
"What's wrong with you Natsu?" Lucy was wiping her tears away "you've been so distant from us and now that you're back you're beating us up? Like it was nothing? I can't believe you,"
"I-" Natsu started but never finished
"What's happening to you Natsu?" Lucy's face had nothing more than worry
Before Natsu even had a chance to say something, Lucy shook her head,
"Sorry," Lucy apologized
"I'm taking Gray to the infirmary," Lucy said quietly as she wrapped one arm around Gray's shoulder and another across his midriff
They walked, or limped in Gray's case, in silence, each not bothering to look at Natsu. As soon as they were gone, Natsu felt all the anger and frustration that had pent up in his body burst and he punched a table in two. He stormed out of the guild not wanting to deal with this, with himself anymore, wanting to clear his head.
"And then you guys came in," Mirajane finished retelling the story
The girls were quiet for awhile as if they were contemplating on something.
"What the world could've caused Natsu to act so..." Erza pondered "brash?"
"Yeah," Levy nodded "He usually fights Gray and would say that he would terminate him, but this was different, this time it seemed like he really would terminate Gray, for good"
"Maybe Gray did something to Natsu?" Lisanna offered
"Well, what heinous act could Gray have done to make Natsu so angry?" Erza asked
"Maybe it's not what Gray did to him but what Gray did to Lucy!" Mirajane concluded
"What?" Levy frowned
"Well, before they fought, I heard Natsu mumble something like "Don't touch her" to Gray, but I dismissed it cause Natsu's never acted so possessive of Lucy before"
"So you think the fight was cause of Lucy?" Erza asked and Mirajane nodded "Well, what were Gray and Lucy doing before that?"
"Let's see...Oh! They were just playing around, teasing each other, but their faces were really close to each other, like this" Mira cupped Lisanna's face and brought it closer to hers
"Being that close, if I didn't know better, I would've thought Gray and Lucy were kissing" Levy laughed lightly
Erza's eyes widened and turned to Levy "That's it!"
"W-what?" Levy jumped in her seat
"Natsu probably thought Gray was kissing Lucy, causing him to act out of jealously and punch his comrade!" Erza clasped her hands together
All the girls gasped in astonishment and agreed.
"You're right!" Levy nodded
"Jealously does drive people to do crazy things" Mirajane nodded
"Oh dear, Natsu really acts on instinct" Lisanna sighed
Erza patted herself mentally for coming up with such a conclusion but that victory was short lived as she suddenly remembered something, frowned, and began to walk towards the request board.
"Oh, this is bad..." Levy said suddenly, remembering last night "Lucy's still mad at Natsu, how are they ever going to fix any of this?"
"Easy," Erza said, causing the girls to turn towards her facing the request board. She turned around with a piece of paper and a smile "with a job"
Hey guys! This chapter is a bit long because the girls needed to understand at least part of the whole Misunderstanding crisis going on for them to help out, after all, what are friends for? Hehe
I love reading your reviews they really motivate me to write more and oh my Mavis you guys with all the support *swoons and ugly sobbing* Thank you so much! Hihi (▰ * ∇ * ▰)
Also, if you spot any errors in the story please don't hesitate to tell me! Thanks again for your time to read this!
Please review! I love reading them hehe C:
