Chapter 10

Liv's house had a barrier around it.

I only know this because I nearly broke my nose trying to walk through her doorway.

After apologizing profusely, she had pulled one of the chopsticks out of her hair and written in the air in front of the doorway. Black script appeared in front of her, appearing and disappearing faster than my eyes could follow. Seconds later, she was pinning her hair back up and walking inside.

So that's how she makes them.

"Sorry about that, it's just that I find barriers more effective than locks in keeping out some of the people from the guild."

I knew that feeling.

My heart had pulled as the image of my apartment and a certain pink-haired dragon slayer came into my head, but I had quickly pushed the memory away.

Now, nearly half an hour later, I was sitting on one of her couches while Liv bustled around her kitchen in search of lunch. I fiddled with a loose thread in the fabric while examining my surroundings.

The layout of her house seem really similar to my apartment; there's a main sitting room, which is then connected to a kitchen, which is connected to a hallway that leads to what I'm assuming are the bedrooms and bathroom.

"Are subs ok?"

I look up just as Liv walks in, carrying two plates with her. I nod, and she sets one holding a meatball sub in front of me.

We sit in awkward silence as we eat.

"Nice place." I say once I've finished.

She smiles. "Thanks; took me forever to save up to buy all the furniture."

"Is it yours or…"

She shakes her head and makes a face. "No. Well, technically yes, but I have to pay rent every month."

Well that sucks. Thought she's got some pretty nice furniture considering she has to pay rent; it can't be that high can it?

"You don't have to worry about that though; the jobs I take are enough to cover it, plus the last one has me set for a little while."

I shift uncomfortably; how much did he pay her? "No, that's ok; I mean I'm living here, so I should be paying rent. Once I take some requests I'll be able to help."

"Well if that's what you want, I can show you the request board later. I'm going to find another job soon, and you could come with me if you want. That is…if you're ok with being partners. You don't do solos, right?"

Again, a certain person with a pink head of hair appears in my mind and I smile sadly. "No, no solos."

Liv stares at me for a few seconds, as if debating on what she should say, but before she can her front door flies open, smashing into the wall behind it.

"Oi, Liv!" I jump, nearly having a heart attack, but Liv looks like she's used to it. "You are not going to believe this shi- oh."

I turn around and come face to face with the girl from before. What was her name? Alex? Whatever it is, she glares at me while Liv looks between us.

"Did I miss something?" she asks, raising an eyebrow. "Have you two already met?"

The girl makes a face. "You could say that. What are you doing here?"

I narrow my eyes at her. "I live here; what are you doing here?"

"You've got to be kidding me." She turns to Liv. "You do know why she's here, right? Who brought her?"

Liv smiles at me. "Lucy, could you give us a minute?"

Without waiting for a reply, she gets up and drags Alex down the hall and into one of the bedrooms, shutting the door behind her.

Well. That was weird.

Are Alex and Liv friends? It didn't sound like it before when me and Zach were waiting for her.

Due to the silence in the house, I can't help but catch tidbits of their conversation floating through the door.

"Happening again…Cass…Damien…replacement…can't…again…part of it." Alex sounds mad.

I can't make out whatever Liv says in response, but whatever is it makes Alex freak out more.

"Don't know…that…started…again"

There's complete silence for so long that I think their conversation is over, but then Liv speaks up. "No…can't…any proof…" Proof? Of what?

"Doesn't matter…sorry…both know…"

"We can't…accusations." Accusations?

I hear Alex sigh loudly. "Fine…closely…proof."

There's another stretch of silence, but this time it's from the fact that they're whispering too quickly for me to catch anything.

The door suddenly opens and they file out of the room, snapping me out of my concentration. I look at my lap, trying to cover the fact that I was eavesdropping.

Alex doesn't look very happy, but at least she doesn't look like she wants to stab me with one of Liv's chopsticks anymore.

They both sit on the couch opposite me, Alex with her feet on the on the coffee table.

"So Lucy-"

"You never did tell me how you got here." Alex says, interrupting Liv. Her red eyes gleam as she crosses her arms behind her head. Why does everything she say seem like she's making fun of me?

"Alex." Liv says warningly.

Alex rolls her eyes. When she looks back at me, the gleam is gone. "Fine. Seriously though, how'd you get to be here?"

"Why does it matter?"

Alex sighs and gives Liv a look, who ignores it. "We're just curious; I know some of what happened, but I wanted to know the whole story, if you're ok with that."

Why do they care so much?

I feel like I shouldn't tell them, but the overwhelming urge to open up about what happened outweighs that.

I focus on Liv, avoiding looking at Alex's grinning face. "Yea, it's fine." I think back. "About a month ago, I got a letter asking me to come to my old home. The man who sent it said it was an important legal matter or something, and that my father couldn't be reached, so I left immediately. When I got there he told me that it wasn't because of some legal matter, that he had lied to get me back there so I could marry him. When I told him I didn't want to and tried to leave, he told me there was a barrier and that if I refused he would abandon me there."

"Are you serious?" Alex interrupts, a look of disgust on her face. Liv, whose face is clouded with guilt, smacks her on the shoulder.

"Yea. I tried to leave, but there was no way out. I didn't tell anyone where I went or that I had even left in the first place. That's when I met Damien." I hesitate; for some reason, I'm reluctant to tell them.

"Wait, how did you meet him?"

I glance at Alex, who looks genuinely curious.

I fidget, my face warming. "Uh, well, he sort of…came into my dreams."

Alex busts out laughing, but quickly sobers when she sees my face. "Wait, you're serious? He can do that?" She turns to Liv. "Can he do that?"

Liv shakes her head, looking bewildered. "I don't know. I had no idea; I've never seen him do something like that before. What did he say in these dreams?" Her question is directed at me.

"Nothing at first." With half the truth known, the rest of the story seems to flow out of me. "He told me that if I agreed to leave my old guild and come with him, then he would get me out of there."

"And you agreed, just like that?" Alex asks, suddenly sounding very bitter. "I thought you were supposed to love your guild. Rah rah go nakama; that's what you guys are all about right?"

I glare at her. "Of course I love my guild, and I would appreciate it if you would stop trashing it." I snap. "It's not like I agreed off the bat; I told him no, and then he left. I didn't see him until a month later, and I…agreed."

"Why?" Liv asks, cutting off whatever Alex was about to say.

"I realized that it was either stay at that house and be married, possibly for forever, or just agree and leave." I try not to think about it too much.

"Ok, we got that, but why?"

I look to Alex in confusion. "What do you mean?"

She rolls her eyes. "I've heard about you and your guild; Fairy Tail, right?" I flinch at the name, which she clearly notices. "From what I hear, your guild members aren't the type to just leave the guild, even if it were for circumstances like that. So, why'd you do it?"

"Wow, way to make me feel great."

She shrugs, as if to say "it's the truth".

I shift, wanting to escape their questioning gazes. "I don't know, ok?"

"There has to be something." Liv says to herself. "Did he say anything to you that changed your mind?"

I think back. "I guess; he said that my friends wouldn't want this for me, and that they would want me to save myself. And…and I don't know but it was like there was this voice in the back of my head telling me to do it and them I got this really bad headache, and I couldn't think straight, so I just agreed, ok?"

Liv and Alex exchange a quick look before nodding for me to continue.

"So then he came and picked me up and my spirits fought him a little bit-"

"Whoa whoa wait a second, your spirits fought against him?"

I shrug. "Yep; well, spirit. Loki fought him, but Damien did this headache thing and beat him."

"Why did he fight him?" Liv asks.

"He said that it was because he thought Damien was bad and that I shouldn't go with him, but he was just trying to seem like a hero; he didn't want to help me."

Alex sputters. "Why the hell do you think that!?"

"Lucy, why would you think that?" Liv asks calmly, giving Alex a glare.

I shrug. "I wouldn't have thought it, but when Damien told me it made sense."

"Ah." Alex nods, an angry look passing over her face. "Damien told you; so you believe everything Damien says then?"

"No, I'm not an idiot."

She laughs at that, but Liv smacks her arm to silence her. "Lucy, I know what Damien said may have made sense at the time, but would your spirit really do that? It sounds like he was just trying to help you."

I shake my head. "He wasn't; he only wanted to seem like a hero." I say, repeating Damien's words from the other day.

They share another look, this time succeeding in aggravating me.

"Can you quit doing that? Why are you looking at each other?"

They ignore me. Alex leans forwards to brace her elbows on her knees, a gleam in her eye that makes me uneasy. "So Lucy…I read that you and a certain dragon slayer were together; is that true?"

My face quickly heats up as I sputter. "W-what?! What the hell- no! No of course not!"

She laughs at my reaction. "Awe, that's adorable; why deny it?"

"I'm not denying anything! We're not together I promise, i-it's not like that!"

"Really? Then what's it like? I know you guys are supposed to be partners…it's no surprise that lead to more. What was his name again? Natsu?"

My face burns even more.

"I've seen the pictures, and even I've got to admit he's pretty cute. You'd think pink hair like that wouldn't work on anyone, but damn he pulls it off."

A spike of jealousy runs through me and I glare at her. Seconds later I realize that she had been baiting me, as she smiles at my reaction.

"So you guys are together; or you at least like each other. Ever done anything?" Her eyes twinkle with amusement, but I see another emotion, one I can't place, beneath that.

"O-of course not!"

"Because I bet he's an amazing kisser. I mean he is the fire dragon slayer…" She raises a suggestive eyebrow, which makes me wish the ground would swallow me up.

He probably is…

I can hear my pulse hammering in my head as I picture him in my mind, his large black orbs staring into mine. They're a familiar sight, but something seems off. The image in my mind I've never seen before. I focus on it, on his face; soon it becomes clearer and I realize we're standing somewhere, on what looks suspiciously like a roof, as he stares down at me.

I think he's…holding me? Then he's kissing me; but Natsu's never kissed me…when did this happen? I don't remember it, but it seems so real that it couldn't have been a dream. My hand flies to my lip at the remembrance of a small nip of pain. Did he do that?

"Lucy? Are you ok?"

I glance up to find Liv staring worriedly at me.

"I…I think we kissed."

"You and Natsu?" Alex's eyebrows shoot nearly to her hairline. "You think?"

I nod. "Yea…it's like…I know it happened, I can see it happening, but I can't remember when it happened."

She snorts. "You're not think of a dream, are you?"

I shake my head. "No…no I don't think so." I rub my temples. "Ugh, crap, you wouldn't happen to have an aspirin would you?" I ask as my head starts to pound.

"Yea, here I'll get one." Liv quickly gets up and heads into the kitchen.

"What happened after your spirit fought?" I guess she's going to keep grilling me.

I shrug. "We rode a train to a town, spent the night there, and came here the next day."

She looks as if she doesn't believe me. "Really…so you just stopped in the town and, what, stayed in the hotel all night?"

I press the heel of my palm to my forehead, wishing this conversation was over. "Yep. I went to the library and fell asleep there, but Damien got me and we went back to the hotel and that's it."

She makes a noise of protest, but doesn't say anything else.

I glance up and narrow my eyes at her. "Do you think I'm lying?"

She leans back against the couch and studies me. "No, I just find it hard to believe that you were able to walk around and stay in a town overnight without a single incident."

I mirror her position. "Why would there be an incident?"

She laughs. "Oh, you don't know do you?"

"Know what?"

She looks at something behind my head, appearing like she doesn't care, but I can see that she's measuring my reaction. "Your guild flipped their shit when you went missing. I didn't pay much attention to it at the time, so I don't remember all the details, just that a group of them went searching pretty much every guild in Fiore, minus us of course, to see if they heard anything about you. Your dragon slayer destroyed three guild halls; it was pretty entertaining."

Really? She must be talking about Erza, Gray, Natsu and Happy. "I told you, he's not my dragon slayer."

She waves me off. "You didn't see the kid; he's definitely yours, whether you want it or not, which I'm pretty certain you do."

If possible, my face gets redder. Thankfully, I'm saved from having to reply by Liv walking in, a glass of water in one hand and a pill in the other.

I take it just as Alex gets up and walks to the door.

"Thanks for the info Lucy."

Why do I feel like I was just played?

I turn around on the couch so that I can fully face her.

"While this has been fun, I've got other stuff to do and other people to see. Liv, please change your mind about tonight."

Tonight? Liv shakes her head. "Nope; I refuse to go. I haven't gone to one yet, and I'm not starting now. Plus you know Sunday's one of my training days."

Alex rolls her eyes. "Excuses. Come on Liv, it's not that bad; they're fun! What about Lucy, don't you think she'd want to go?"

"Go where?"

Liv rolls her eyes. "Zach and his stupid parties at the guild; he has one at the end of every month."

"Why?"

Liv rolls her eyes. "I have no idea; he used to have them every weekend at his house, but then at one of them last year it got a little too crazy, and long story short someone accidently burnt down his house and nearly burnt mine down; master said they had to be at least a month apart so we could repair damages between them."

I raise an eyebrow. "How does that even happen?"

"Sparky goes a little fire crazy when he gets drunk." Alex answers for her.

"Sparky?"

"Aiden." Liv says, rolling her eyes at the nickname. "He's a fire magic user. Zach didn't put a cap on how much he was handing out, so he drank too much, which is yet another reason it's a bad idea."

Alex looks at me. "They're not bad; plus they're something to look forward to at the end of the month. If Liv would come outside and live a little, pun intended, she'd find that it fun."

"I don't see how drinking away brain cells to the beat of some random song he happened to think was cool at the time."

Alex leans over to me and puts her hand in front of her mouth. "Don't listen to her; it's only because it's Zach's party." She stage whispers. "They liiiiike each other."

"Alex! Shut up!" Liv interrupts, denying it, but I note that her cheeks tint pink.

A wave of déjà vu hits me as the memory of a certain blue haired exceed pops into my head, but I shove it away, not wanting to depress myself with such thoughts.

"Come on Liv…pleeeeaaasse?" Alex puffs out her lower lip.

Liv doesn't even hesitate before answering "Nope."

"Ugh fine then." Alex immediately reverts back to normal and turns to me. "You want to come Lucy? I promise it'll be fun."

I don't know…a party would be a good way to get my mind off of everything…

I sigh. "Sorry Alex, I'm not much of a partier either."

Her eyes narrow on both of us. "Ugh, whatever, you guys are no fun. Why do I even hang out with you?" She says before stomping over to Liv's door and walking out.

I wasn't aware we hung out.

After a moment of silence, I stand up awkwardly. "That was…interesting."

"Yea…Alex can get a little excited. Also" She turns so she's looking me. "You don't have to not go just because I'm not; don't feel obliged just because you're staying here."

"No, it's okay. I'm really not much of a partier."

She smiles. "Yea, me either; though if you are staying home, you're welcome to join me at the training room tomorrow."

Home. I that what this is now?

A wave of nostalgia hits me so hard that it knocks my breath away when I realize that there is no going back; this is my life now. This is my guild now.

Fairy Tail is just the past.

"Lucy? Are you okay? What's wrong?"

I snap back to reality, looking up to find Liv staring at me with worry. I realize my vision is blurry with unshed tears; I blink them away and force a smile. "Yea; I'm fine. Which room was mine again?"

Liv clearly doesn't believe me, but she sighs and lets it drop. "Just down the hall, last door on the right."

I nod a thanks and walk to the new room in my new life.

...

That night, I woke up sometime after midnight. I don't know why, considering my room was nearly silent. Then, I'm hit with a thought:

I want to see Damien.

I need to see Damien.

Before I even realize what's happening, I'm out of bed and walking to the front door.

I step outside, numb to the fact that it's freezing and I'm only wearing pajama shorts and a short-sleeved shirt.

The closer I get to the guildhall, where the pull gets stronger, signifying that he's there, the ground began to shake to an unheard beat. It felt weird, like a miniature earthquake, but I tried to ignore it.

The entire first floor of the guildhall was lit up the occasional flash of light and pop of color. When I open the front door and walk inside, it's like parting a curtain, as the music hits me with such force that I stumble. A wave of heat rolls over me.

What had seemed pretty calm earlier today was now a hectic blur, as bodies wearing various neon colored outfits crowded every available space. Somewhere in the room, bright lights occasionally flashed, lighting up the room every few seconds. The only constant source of light was the bar, which actually looked pretty cool with all the lights off. The same girl with the pigtails from earlier was still running around and handing out drinks, but now she had neon streaks running through her hair. I didn't recognize the song playing, but I could feel the bass in my bones.

One thing's for certain: Zach spends way too much time and energy on these parties; it seems more like a club than a guild hall.

I push through the crowd, oblivious to the questioning stares I was receiving. I follow the pull until I'm standing in front of one of the tables set up. This particular one held Zach and Damien, both leaning back in their chairs and watching the crowd. When he sees me, Damien smirks.

"Nice outfit sweetheart." He yells over the music.

His voice barely penetrates the haze around my head as settle down on his lap. Across the table, Zach raises his eyebrows in surprise, but doesn't say anything.

I'm not close enough to him; I need to be closer.

I turn around and straddle his lap, my arms and legs hanging over the back of his chair. I push my head into the crook of his neck; I can feel his lips turn up at the edges.

"I missed you." I say into his ear. The words pour out before I can stop them. "You left me." I lay my cheek on his shoulder, heat radiating off of his skin and through his thin T-shirt.

In the next second his hands are on my cheeks and his lips are smashed against mine. I reach up my hands to tangle my fingers in his hair, sighing against his mouth. All sounds disappear, along with everyone around us, as I lean closer. I pull slightly on his curls, causing Damien to emit a small growl. He deepens the kiss as I cling tighter to him..

I'm aware of a voice in the back of my head, screaming at me to stop. Somewhere, I feel that this is wrong, and that I shouldn't be doing this, but the haze quickly swallows them up, leaving Damien as my only want.

"Lucy!" Someone close by yells, right as a hand to my shoulder pulls me partially away and separating me from him.

I look up to find Alex standing beside me, looking equal parts worried and angry.

"Yea?" I ask lazily, my voice coming out faint and breathy. Damien attaches his mouth to my neck, igniting a trail of fire across my skin.

"What the hell are you doing?!" She shouts over the music, her hand tightens on my shoulder. Several people behind her glance at us in amusement, but no one intervenes.

I'm about to answer her when the haze comes back, swallowing her voice and directing my attention back to Damien. I move my head to the side, giving him better access to my neck.

Before I can take time to enjoy it, I'm ripped from him again, this time clean out of the chair. A hand on my arm steadies me before I fall on my face, and I'm surprised to find that Alex was able to pull us apart.

The last thing I see is a very annoyed Damien staring after us as Alex practically drags me through the sea of bodies.

Once we're outside and the door slams behind us, the silence feels almost deafening.

"What the hell was that?" Alex demands.

"I was with Damien, until you decided to drag me away for no reason; I should be asking you the same question."

She narrows her eyes at me. "You haven't been here all night, and then suddenly you show up at 1 am to start having sex in the middle of the guildhall?"

My face heats up as my hand clenches into a fist. "We weren't have sex, we were just kissing!"

She remains silence for a second as she searches my face. "Did he give you something? Did he get a drink for you?" She leans closer. "Are you drunk?"

Of course not! Why the hell would oyu assume that?!"

"Because when I pulled you off of him, you didn't know where you were and you could barely stand."

I scoff. "Whatever; maybe it was because you interrupted something important."

"You do realize you're in your pajamas right now, right?"

I roll my eyes. "So what? I felt like coming up here and being with him and didn't feel like changing. Do you have a problem with that?!"

"Ok, cut the bullshit and listen up." I see the mean girl from earlier peak out as she glares at me; the fact that she's so short filled with so much anger scares me a little bit. "Damien is not someone you want to be with. Whatever it is that you think you see in him, it's not real; he just shows you what you want to see. All he's doing is messing with you, and I can tell you from experience that it's just going to turn out bad for you, so don't even try."

"What are you, his ex-girlfriend?"

She stares at me quietly, as if decided on whether she should say something or not. "No, but I was the best friend of one." She cocks her head to the side. "And you know where she is now?"

I cross my arms and fight the urge to roll my eyes. "I don't know, where?" I coat my words in sarcasm.

She shrugs. "I don't know; and neither does anyone else. She's went missing two months ago, right after she and Damien "broke up"."

"If you're talking about Cass, Zach says she left the guild. Just because she didn't tell you where she was going doesn't mean she's missing."

Alex laughs bitterly. "She didn't leave the guild; that's just what he likes to tell everyone. No, he did something to her."

I shift my weight to my other foot, suddenly feeling a twinge of uncertainty. "I don't believe you."

She shrugs. "Don't care; but when it starts happening to you, don't come crying to me." She starts walking back in the direction of the door.

"When what starts happening?"

"You'll see; and please, control yourself next time. I sure your dragon slayer would greatly appreciate it." She says before walking back inside, slamming the door behind her.

I'm stunned to silence as I stare at the closed door.

Again, what the hell is her problem?!

When what starts happening? Did Damien do something to Cass?

As soon as I think it, I brush away the thought; Damien wouldn't hurt anyone. Of course Alex is just imaging things; she probably just looking for an excuse to why Cass left without saying anything.

Wait…my dragon slayer? Who is she talking about? I think back to our conversation earlier.

Oh, she's talking about Natsu.

Natsu.

Oh my god!

It feels like a bucket of water has been thrown over my head. The haze disappears, leaving me with the harsh reality of what just happened. Oh my god, what am I doing?! I just made out with him in the middle of the guildhall!

Holy shit I made out with him!

I swipe a hand across my mouth, trying to erase the memory of his lips on mine. Oh my god…why did I do that?! How could I do that?! I don't even like him!

I suddenly become painfully aware of the fact that it's freezing outside.

And the fact that I'm wearing practically nothing and standing barefoot.

What just happened? Why did I even come here?

I feel a headache begin to form behind my eyes as the question shoot though my brain.

I shiver and hastily make my way back down the path to Liv's house.

My cheeks burn in embarrassment as I replay the scene in my mind. Why did I do that? What came over me? Ugh I'm such an idiot.

I walk into the house, thankful that Liv isn't up; I have no idea how I'd explain that I just left in the middle of the night to make out with her brother at the party. That's awkward.

When I pass said girl's room, I pause. Would she know what Alex was talking about? He is her brother after all; wouldn't she know if he did anything to her? Plus maybe she would know something about Cass…she's beginning to sound important, and it doesn't seem like Alex is going to tell me anything about her anytime soon.

I continue to my room after deciding that I'll ask her in the morning; there's no point in waking her up on the chance that she doesn't know anything.

I crawl into bed, shivering even more at the cool covers. At my apartment, Natsu would have warmed them up by now.

Oh Natsu….I wish you were here…

I shove my head into my pillow, trying to forget that life.

It's over.

This is my life now.

Wow I am so sorry for it taking me longer than usual to update. I succumbed to my 5SOS obsession/fandom/fam a few days ago (trust me it wasn't pretty) and had no time to write. Plus I sorta had writers block for a little bit, but oh well I got it written.

In Manga News:

Yesssss team B is back! My Miraxus heart is still hoping for something to go on with that, plus I'm so excited to see the Raijinshuu (did I spell that right?) hopefully it shows them.

Whelp. It's 3 AM so I should probably end this here, considering if I stay up any longer I won't go to bed at all.

Till next time!

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