It is done, after a day of doing the quadratic formula with 'black magic' on calculators and realizing my car is 10/11 years old and STILL just as crappy as when it was first manufactured. Plus this guy stared at me while driving and I was like 'Bruh fight me, it's rude to stare'!
Anyway, I can do the romancing thing before things get seriously going.
~Soprana
The sunny days were the most remarkable days in Magnolia. The scent of fresh bread always had Lucy salivating, debating the prospects of getting a small snack. Sounds of chatter and laughter filled her ears as she traveled along the streets, her purple dress hidden by a dark cotton cloak. Despite knowing the impossibility of having an actual date with her pink haired friend, Lucy still ventured out into the town that she loved, still thinking about how she must juggle her opera and business time with actually getting out of the mansion.
The prospects were not very favorable.
"Hello, Lady Lucy!" Many would greet as they marched through their daily chores and tasks, tipping hats and waving. With laughter and smiles, Lucy moved through the crowds like mist on a moist spring morning, untouchable by any means but quite a sight to behold.
The occasional guard patrols tipped heads towards her in respectful passing, not once stopping her to reprimand the woman for venturing outside the manor walls without an escort. Lucy was held in high regard, and it had only increased with the news that Sir Jose was bringing her into his inner circle of business.
At every corner, the heiress would pause and admire paper fliers with sketched faces and printed names, noting the mistaken details of the familiar faces of wanted assassins. Laxus' nose looked horrendous! The hooked nose and wart placed on his chin certainly threw off many features that the blond assassin did possess. Eyes trailing the wall, Lucy giggled at the scowling face of, she assumed Gray, his long, silky hair and defined eyelashes certainly something she would file away for future amusement.
Then, the next drawn face had her nearly collapsing in fits of giggles. The mugshot artist depicted Natsu as a horned demon with a forked tongue and fangs. The sneer was certainly close, but all the features were totally false. None the less, Lucy breathed in through her nose before quickly tearing each poster off the wall so harshly that the content would be unrecognizable.
Not that the images would aid the population in identifying her friends but it never hurt to be sure.
A loud and rather violent commotion sounded from around the corner, distracting all civilians in the area to look and flee. Lucy only had a second to blink before a hand came over her mouth and a strong arm dragged her back into a nearby alley, hot and rushed breathing at her neck. Adrenaline and panic rushed through Lucy like a riptide from a broken dam.
With a not so fearsome squeak, she began to writhe against her captor, effectively elbowing him in the side before his free hand seized her wrists firmly, pulling her back flush against his front. How dare a man try and take advantage of her distracted state in such a way! With a hiss, Lucy twisted her head so that a finger pressed against her lips. In that moment, the woman parted her lips and seized the digit with a firm bite of her teeth.
"Ye-ouch! Lucy!" A familiar voice yelped, her captor releasing her all together. Whirling around, brown eyes widened at the sight of a pouting pink haired assassin sucking on his ring finger with wounded eyes. "You did not have to bite me!" He whined, pulling out his injured finger and squinting at it.
Lucy huffed with crossed arms after a stern jab to his shoulder. "When you want my attention, just say my name! Do not just hijack me like some criminal! I nearly had a heart attack!" With a gasp, she leaned over to clutch at her heart, attempting to regain some sort of composure.
The shifting of feet alerted her to the figure standing behind Natsu, a dark blue and horribly dirty cloak covering the person's face. Curiously leaning to the side to peer closer, Lucy was surprised when Natsu stepped closer and grabbed her shoulders urgently, pinning her with a serious gaze of coal on chocolate. "Lucy! I need help smuggling this guy out. Erza is busy with guards, but I have to move him outside the city myself."
His words were rushed and slurred, testimony to his thoughtless actions and panic. Of all things, Lucy decided Natsu would be the end of her one day. The noblewoman took in her friends antsy shifting and searching eyes that scanned around them, no doubt for any guards approaching. It seemed he really needed assistance.
With a sigh and hands on her hips, Lucy cocked her head to nod at the figure, "Could you at least have warned me yesterday?" She quipped tiredly, glancing around at the sounds of running footsteps and clangs of metal on metal. "I could have prepared sooner."
Natsu shook that head of raggedy pink hair, quickly moving to shove the figure closer to the mouth of the alleyway with little consideration to manners. "This is a...last minute thing. Please Luce? I can give you aerial surveillance and help if there is any issues! I just...I need this favor."
The broken expression of desperation did not sit well on his face. Lucy sighed, offering her hand to the cloaked figure with dignity. "Alright." She agreed.
Natsu's whoop of glee and relief were lost as Lucy fixed the hidden figure with serious eyes. "I need you to hobble like you are elderly and crippled." All she was given in return was a nod of a hooded head. Not at all a talkative fellow.
The cloak concealing the person smelled of cat urine and was stained with mud and, well, cat piss. Lucy wrinkled her nose at the horribly offending odor, offering her arm with a grimace. The poor sucker had to wear the horrible material, so the heiress sucked it up. Deep down, she prayed no unknown pathogen invaded her healthy body.
Natsu was already gone, the sounds of his boots on the gutters reminding her that he would be watching. He would never drop a dangerous task on her shoulders without staying to keep her safe.
Steeling her nerves, she harshly yanked the figure out into the streets, and right in the sight of some approaching guards. To the blonde, it was clear they were responding to the unknown commotion around the corner. To the figure, blind panic and betrayal set in like a vice. The mystery person tensed and pulled at her arm harshly, almost dragging her off balance and into the coat of many smells.
Nails dug into the arm she held as Lucy smiled warmly to the guards that watched with curious suspicion. "Good day, gentlemen! I am just taking this lovely woman to the Heartfilia healer. That commotion behind us was quite a drain!"
The cheery tone came naturally as she gesture to the corner with her free hand. "There was a terrible fight!"
Those words cleared the air, and the men hardly payed the woman and figure any mind as they darted forward with tips of hats in her direction. "Thank you, Lady Lucy!" One cadet called with a giddy wink, getting smacked on the back of the head by the captain.
With a roll of her eyes, Lucy quickly dragged the figure past the guards with a firm grip. "Look, you have to trust me. I promise I will get you out safely." She whispered, keeping to the sides of the streets as to blend with the onlookers and loiterers.
Her companion was silent, only ragged breaths escaping the folds of the foul clothing. Then, "My apologies. I am...not favored by many soldiers." It was a man's voice, soft and tired. He kept up with the limping act as they moved, nearly vibrating nervously at every stare directed towards them.
The poor man was nearly thrumming with energy to fight or flee. The blonde could feel his muscles tensing under her grip. With little thought, she muttered humorously, "I certainly can understand why. This cloak reeks."
Beneath the layer of stench and stained cloth, the mystery man chuckled, relaxing slightly as he did so. "Well, that could be one reason." He mused, head turning to survey the rooftops. Lucy followed, what she supposed was, his line of sight. With careful squinting and peering, Lucy could have sworn she saw flashes of pink every now and then.
Natsu, for whatever reason, trusted her enough to help. That fact alone made the woman feel special and included; despite this being a last minute induction into Assassin affairs. A glint of metal shone from behind a chimney, and she smiled despite the serious task. He was always looking out for her in the strangest ways.
"Well, a smelly wardrobe can be fixed, right?" Lucy suddenly spoke as they neared the slum district, buildings becoming more decrepit and poorly kept. Cobblestone became dirt and potholes. Well groomed civilians became hard to find with mostly grimy and gruff people beginning to populate the way. Having a companion beside her and a watcher from the sky set her at ease, though. With friends, she was not afraid.
Her companion huffed a small sound of amusement, keeping pace despite the hobbling and cowering. "A new wardrobe cannot erase the travesties I have infringed. My only hope is to walk in the shadows for my redemption. The only one that matters...I have to try to be better for her." There was something transcendent in his words that shook the heiress to her bones.
This woman he spoke of had to be a great deal to him. Such drive and devotion. Lucy noted to write about it later.
"Well, forgiveness of the self starts in grand adventures, or so I have read." The woman mused with a longing look to the looming city walls that appeared over the houses. "If she is from the guild, I am sure she already has forgiven whatever you did. The members of Fairy Tail are like that. If you are trying, then you have already taken the first steps."
The escorted man was silent as the gates exiting the city came into view as they rounded a corner. Lucy, however, tensed at the sight of five posted and armed men waiting at the open gate. It was normal to see such a thing, for every shipment had to be inspected before entering or exiting the city limits.
The Heartfilia woman did not account this into her previous plan.
As if sensing her discomfort, the cloaked man turned his head to her, face shadowed by the hood. "Are you well?" He asked with a weighted tone, hesitantly trusting.
Without a single word, Lucy quickly dragged him sideways into a narrow alley that surpassed the foulest of all that she had experienced before. Festering pools of stagnant puddles scattered the ground like visible landmines, old and rotting crates that had been abandoned blocking most of the deeper secrets. Here, Lucy quickly released her companion, quickly pulling down her hair and mussing it up with vigorous shakes and head flips.
"Uh...what exactly are you doing?" He finally said, shooting a lost expression to the watching Natsu, who leered over the edge of the closest building with a concerned look. The pink haired man did not dare interrupt...whatever she was doing. Not even when tangles rested atop her head or frazzled strands cascaded over her face.
With a final shake, the woman then dragged her own hood over her head, positioning the tangles to cover her forehead and eyes in a shield of golden blonde chaos. "Okay!" With a slam of a fist on her open palm, Lucy faced the man with fire in her eyes. "Keep the gimp up, but shy away from prying eyes and look down. Leave everything to me, alright?"
He stared, tilting his head up enough for brown eyes to catch the defined shape of a chin. With quick efficiency, she yanked the hood down and dragged him back out into the day lit street.
With steady tugs, Lucy ensured his cooperation and confidence as they neared the guards. The digging at her back told her of Natsu's gaze on them, but she grit her teeth with the knowledge that this was the best way to prevent contact and violence.
When the five guards to notice of them, at the same time by coincidence or fate, Lucy braced her nerves. "Please! I must get my grandmother to the healer out of town! She is terribly ill!" She cried loudly, making quite a theatrical show of staggering with exhaustion an worry. In assurance, she squeezed the man's arm as she pulled him close enough for the guard to reach out and touch them.
While she expected them to stop her, the sharp grip on her arm and her companion startled her. "Stop! No civilians are allowed passage at this time." One snarled, spittle flying from his lips. Lucy scowled, already fed up with the denial.
As a noblewoman of great wealth, she supposed learning better rejection techniques were a must.
"She must go! She is deathly ill and if she dies, it is on your hands! I will be alone in this world without her. Let us pass!" Curse the actress in her soul, for Lucy realized she had begun to screech towards the end, gathering quite a crowd of onlookers. Scruffy, thuggish onlookers. Writhing in the guards grip did not help the image of the friendly neighborhood gate guard. Come to think of it, riots were quite common in the outskirts of this city.
Distributing cautious glances to the gathering civilians, all five soldiers shared a glance before parting the pathway. Lucy only had a split second to understand this change before she was harshly shoved into her silently cowering companion, stumbling out of the looming gates of Magnolia.
"Take the hag and begone then!" The spitting one cried, waving them off like some annoying fruit flies in a summer bog. Swallowing her barbed retort, the Heartfilia heiress settled for the more humble road. She pushed her cloaked friend to keep moving while she made a special of bowing.
"Thank you greatly, Sirs! My eternal gratitude." She spat with a sweet tone, turning and sticking her tongue out in revulsion once safely away from the gates.
At her side, the heaving breathing of her escort tipped her off as to how nervous he had been with her off the handle plan. "I...cannot believe...we got out like that!" He rasped, the horrid cloak moving as his hand clutched at his heart. "You...had me worried!"
He broke off with a laugh, one filled with joy and relief. Lucy decided it fitted him much better than the quiet and stoic mystery she had seen him as.
Now outside the city without an escort or her father breathing down her back, Lucy cautiously followed the hooded man. After all, he seemed to know where he was heading with the stables steadily approaching.
Now was the time the woman tossed off her hood and whined, carefully brushing fingers through her hair nest. "Oh, this is going to be so troublesome." She bemoaned, wincing at the sharp and painful zap from her abused hair pulling at her sensitive scalp. "My poor hair."
The stables were so close that she could touch the wall of peeling paint. Horse nickers sounded from inside, the smell of fresh hay and manure not totally unpleasant. After being locked in a house of tacky perfume and constant cleaning, some earthy smells were a nice change...though she wished she had some perfume to spray on herself. She smelled nearly as bad as that urine cloak.
Speaking of the cloak, the figure pulled off the horrid material, revealing a head of spiky blue hair. When he turned to face her, a small smile on his lips, Lucy's gaze was drawn to the intricate reddish tattoo around his right eye.
"Do not worry. Your hair is still nice, like starlight." He said, the cloak now freeing his voice to display the deep and soulful timbre that the blonde had missed before. His fingers pulled off the cloak completely, letting it drop to the ground at his feet. "Finally, I can remove that terrible disguise."
There was a whoosh and a thump, the nearby hay wagon stirring and drawing a startled squeak from the noblewoman. Hands gripping at her chest, she watched with wide chocolate eyes as Natsu emerged from the depths of the hay with a happy grin and straw sticking out of his hair and clothes.
"Natsu! Did you just jump from that roof?!"
Ignoring her holler, the pink haired man turned his innocent smirk to the blue haired mystery man with glittering dark eyes. "So Jellal, Fairy Tail got you out-"
"I got him out, no thanks to you!" Lucy harshly interjected.
"-as promised. Where is that information you promised?" The Dragon Assassin finished smoothly.
"Wait, you had me help...to get information?!" The woman hissed, already boiling over the fact that with the trouble she went through, she deserved at least a 'thank you'!
As if ignoring angry females were a common task, Jellal nodded with a humble sigh. "Yes. I bring news from the east. There has been a surge of Templar activity, as you know. It seems there is a plan, and there is a single man leading the forces behind the scenes. He is called...Acnologia of the Apocalypse."
In that instant, Natsu's warm face grew stern and grim. Coal colored eyes hardened under pressure, and both men shared a moment of silent concern.
"I see," Natsu finally said with a low tone, "well, keep in touch. Erza will be waiting to hear from you often."
Lucy watched the tattooed man's face pink in a sheepish blush with awe. With a hushed mutter of words that Lucy could not catch, the man turned and stalked into the stables, hair covering his eyes.
Silence stretched between the blonde woman and the pink haired assassin as Jellal selected a dark bay stallion from the stables and rode away from Magnolia, into the horizon that displayed midday becoming afternoon.
When he turned to wave, both man and woman returned the gesture in different ways: Lucy waving lightly while Natsu merely pointed his index finger up into the air with his thumb flexed out.
"You owe me." The heiress said suddenly, a sly expression crossing her face as Natsu huffed. With onyx eyes watching as Jellal vanished over the hilly horizon, he easily shrugged and turned back towards the city walls.
"Allow me to walk you home."
In all her years, watching Natsu scale a wall and easily haul her up with only a rope was something to behold. Despite the fact that he laughed at her surprise, Lucy could clearly see the gleam of pride in his eyes and the skip in his steps. With every movement, he would seem like a masterpiece of raw skill and artistic design. With sure footing, he knew where to step and what to do with balance.
"So, The Salamander Assassin?" She mused as they both walked down the streets of Magnolia, Lucy taking time to wave and smile at those who called out to her. "You are making quite a name for yourself."
Chuckling, Natsu crammed his hands in his pockets, keeping his hood over his vibrant and dead-giveaway hair. "I saw those posters. I think they properly depicted me!"
"Right, right." Lucy sighed, thinking back to the demon horns and fangs with the sneer to follow.
With a call of Lucy's name, a nearby flower peddler tossed a rose with a stem far too short for proper selling, his rickety cart filled with many bouquets and colors of the quickly approaching winter. With a lunge and a grunt, Natsu caught the flower between his thumb and index finger with ease, squinting at the dewy and velvety pedals curiously as they neared the hedge walls of the Heartfilia manor.
Just when she was about to bid him farewell and excuse herself to the main gate, Natsu pulled her by the arm to a skimpy looking branch of the hedge, pulling it back with gloved hands to reveal a clearing within the hedge bushes.
Ah, so this was where he sat during their 'secret' visitations. Pushing farther on the vegetation as she entered, Lucy stumbled straight through into that familiar corner where he had talked to her through the leaves.
Sighing at the relief of returning home at last, the blonde woman turned to smile at Natsu, who poked his head and upper body out of the hedge. "I will be calling in that favor later. Count on it."
He answers with a laugh and a scratch at the back of his head. "I really do owe you. I would have had to fight a bunch of annoying guards if you did not help." The squint of his eyes told her this would not have been unfavorable, but tiresome and tedious.
"Then...until we meet again." She finally hummed with a little exhale. With dirty fingers, she moved to adjust what had been salvageable with her mop of hair, but Natsu's extending hand made her pause. In his fingers, he offered that single rose.
He said nothing as she accepted it with a giggle, smirking that simple smile that told her of so many wonders she had yet to see.
Then, he was gone through the brush, leaving behind a small rustle of leaves and a racing heart in her chest. In the silence of the garden, the blonde woman released a sweet grin, lightly touching the pedals of the rose in thought. "Thank you, Natsu...for everything."
But, I do not know...if I would count that as a date.