Heyo! So, summer camp. Over. Yay! School coming. Not as much yay. But yay anyway!
Ok so I'm going to try and keep these shorter now. Because ack my head. I got way too ahead of myself but cutting stuff out is harder than adding stuff soooo...
Thanks to Interesteddude for lots of helpful thingymabobs and tidbits of advice things!
This chapter! Lesson to be learned? Don't jump from buildings and accidentally hit the wrong person. Because it may or may not cause a hell of a lot more trouble than its worth.
Read, review, like and enjoyify!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own either Bleach or Fairy Tail, although I wish I was that lucky. No OC's this time.
WARNING: SPOILERS FOR ALL OF BLEACH AND MOST OF FAIRY TAIL! READ AT YOUR DISCRETION...
Chapter Fourteen: Gravity Never Stops
...
Lucy
...
The bars on the door were the first things that tipped me off to my rapidly deteriorating situation.
As soon as I woke up, I realized that I had absolutely no idea where I was. Well, it was a room, but I didn't know where the room was. I was in a prison cell of sorts, unadorned and empty except for me.
"What the... How did I get here?!"
Think, think. It was hard to focus on anything, since my head felt kinda fuzzy, but think nonetheless. I should at least be able to do that much. What had happened?
I tried to remember, and just like that it came back to me. Phantom Lord. War. Two of the Element Four...had their names been Juvia and Sol? And a personal invitation from the Master of their guild himself.
Well, wasn't this splendid. Nice to know Phantom has a good way of dealing with guests.
I sat up slowly and looked around, but there was nothing to see. It was empty, unless moss on the walls counted for decor. Maybe one of my celestial spirits knew where I was?...
Dammit...the pouch that holds my Gate keys was gone.
And now that I actually bothered to notice, my hands had been tied firmly behind my back, so that I could barely move. I'd never be able to untie it without being able to see the rope.
What the hell was going on?!
And then, a strange thought wormed its way into my head. This must be like what Grimmjow had felt when he woke up on Galuna with us—trapped like a rat, in a situation he really didn't want to be in, with no idea how he got there.
Oh, I can see you now, you know. All smirking and laughing, like you can't believe I'm actually thinking about that in a situation like this. You're thinking, "This little blonde bimbo is completely obsessed with Grimmjow effing Jaegerjaques." Well, what can I say? Grimmjow'd been on my mind lately.
So had a bunch of other things.
Like home, for example.
Ah, home. The material and immaterial collection of hateful memorabilia, loving housekeepers, fancy dresses, business meetings, gravestones, arranged marriages, rice balls, shattered dreams, and possibly the worst father that ever cursed the face of the earth.
And considering my choices, I think that daydreaming about Fairy Tail's other newbie wasn't the worst I could have done.
Well, at least I had light to daydream by. The room was surprisingly bright for a prison cell, with a giant window directly in front of me. Wow, design flaw much? Although, even if I made it out, I wouldn't get far with my hands tied. There was a single barred window on the door behind me that let in a decent amount of light in as well.
All of a sudden, the light from the door seemed to go out, and I heard the creak of a door opening. Someone was here.
"Ah, you're finally awake. I was beginning to worry about you, Lucy dear."
I spun around and came face to face with a tall, sickly looking man with a devilish smile on his face. I had no idea who he was, so the fact that he knew my name was kinda scary. "Who are you?"
"Me? I am Master Jose Porla of the Phantom Lord guild."
This was him?
For someone so well-known throughout Fiore, Jose Porla really looked like a greasy, lecherous slimeball. Everything about him looked sickly, from the reddish hair to those really shady-looking eyebrows and mustache to the dark purple lipstick applied to his lips. The purple witch hat and cloak didn't help, and neither did the wings. Something weird, though. There was a blue crest on the pin holding his shirt collar in place—the same one as on Master's coat.
I didn't like him. He reeked of sadism and greed and all those bad things you're really not supposed to like about people.
Jose took a couple steps into the room, gesturing to the surroundings. "I must apologize for this dingy cell, my dear, and I realize that being tied up like some common criminal is degrading, but I'm afraid you've given me no other choice. That is how you treat a prisoner, after all."
"You're the Phantom master!" I raged, struggling against my bonds with no success. "That means you ordered the attack on Levy! You better let me go, because sooner or later my friends are gonna come looking for me."
"Hmph." He smirked and turned away. "You know, depending on your cooperation, I'm fully prepared to treat you as Phantom Lord's esteemed guest, rather than a lowly prisoner."
"What do you mean by that—"
As I spoke, I felt something crawling up the side of my leg, and immediately I shrieked and shook the damn thing off. A centipede, gross! Ugh, I hate creepy crawlies. Disgusting...
Jose smirked, as if expecting that course of action. Jerk. "See? You don't want to stay in here, do you? If you'll promise to behave, I have a beautifully adorned suite waiting for you."
I didn't know what he was talking about, I was too focused on the fight between Phantom Lord and Fairy Tail. Where was everyone now? Were they fighting, or had they already gone home? "Why do you jerks keep attacking us?"
"...'Us'? Oh, I'm sorry, are you talking about the fairies?" Jose's grin grew wider and twisted as he snickered. "It was a means to an end, and that's all."
What?
"You see, we were working on our main objective of acquiring a certain someone. And they were a member of Fairy Tail—so if we had to destroy the guild to get to them, so be it."
"Who are you supposed to 'acquire'?" I gritted.
"Oh, my my," he said, clucking his tongue. "Such naïveté. Not at all what I'd expect from a debutante."
I sucked in a gasp, but it wasn't enough air for me, and I slumped over to stare at the floor so I wouldn't have to see his face.
Somehow, he knew. He knew who I was. He knew everything.
"I'm talking about you, naturally. Lady Lucy, esteemed daughter and heiress of the wealthy Heartfilia family."
My voice shook when I replied. "How did you find out about that—"
Before I could finish, he cut me off with a disappointed sigh. "You know, I'm surprised you never told the other fairies about this. Nor do I understand why the daughter of a wealthy tycoon would stoop to something as low as wizarding for a low-class guild. Do you?"
"So what is this, then?" I whispered. "I've been...kidnapped?"
"Oh, no! Of course not, it's not like that at all. We're not looking for a ransom, this is just a simple job. Your father hired us to bring you home to him."
Remember said shitty father? That was the same one Jose was referring to.
...That couldn't be true.
Dad...wanted me home?
Took him long enough to realize I was gone.
"No," I whispered as I shook my head. "Impossible. That's not right. How could my dad actually want me back?"
"What's so surprising? I'm sure any father would be concerned about the whereabouts of his only daughter."
"Not him. Not mine, I'm surprised that he even cared that I ran away." I don't know how to explain it, but something began to boil inside me. I...I just felt this unbridled rage, this hatred for the man who gloated before me, and for my father who had gone to such terrible lengths just to retrieve me. Hated them. I hated them both.
That rage exploded into a single defiant exclamation—"I AM NEVER GOING BACK TO THAT HELL OF A HOUSE AGAIN, AND I WANT NOTHING MORE TO DO WITH HIM!"
Jose clucked his tongue in disappointment as I spat at him. Smug bastard. "Oh dear, I should have known that you'd be troublesome."
"Since I'm not going willingly," I spat, "maybe you should just let me go."
"I'm afraid I can't do that, and you know I'm not lying." He crossed his arms and left it at that, and I knew that I wouldn't get any further with this type of resistance.
Maybe it was time for some good old-fashioned Lucy bluffing.
"No, you don't understand. Please, just let me out of here..." I made an uncomfortable face as I continued, "I kinda have to use the bathroom."
"...That so?"
Imagine my surprise when he walked to the corner of the room, retrieved a bucket from who knows where, and plopped it down ceremoniously in front of me.
...Oh my god, he wasn't kidding.
He grinned and crossed his arms triumphantly, and all I could do was stare at the disgusting little bucket at my feet. "Give me a break. You actually thought I'd fall for the oldest trick in the book? Sorry, my dear, but you're not that lucky. If you have to go, go in here."
"...All right then," I muttered bashfully, nudging the bucket with my feet until it was behind me. This was pushing it, even for me. "If there's no other way..."
Jose's face grew pale in horror as he screamed, "How vulgar, you were serious?! I didn't think you'd actually do it! ...A-as I am a gentleman, I'll just turn around and give you s-some privacy!"
Heh. He fell for it!
"Got ya!" Soon as his back was to me, I reared my leg back and unleashed a solid kick straight to his most sensitive area.
With a pained squeal that felt oddly satisfying, he toppled to his knees, his hands on his crotch as he continued to whimper pathetically.
"You know, there's a reason old tricks are still around. They work!" I snickered and walked around him, winking as I made my way to the door that he had stupidly left open for me. What, was he an idiot as well as a jerk? I was home free! "Bye-bye!"
"No...c-come back..."
I flashed a grin over my shoulder to him when another voice made itself known.
"Not so fast, little bitch."
Who—
I barely had time to see the speaker before he punched me directly in the stomach with all the force of a cannonball.
I don't know what happened—one second, I was fine, and the next I saw stars and could barely breathe or speak as I sank down to my knees. "Wh-what..."
Through the pain, I saw an extremely tall man with jet black hair and an oddly wiry physique grinning at me from outside the door. How had that hurt so bad? He looked as if he'd never heard of physical conditioning before, and yet a train through my lung might have hurt less.
Wait a second...
Was that...a hole like Grimmjow's, right where his eye should be?
Did that mean...was he like him?
The man's eye narrowed in disgust as he stared down at me, and I could tell he knew what I was thinking. "Blondie, ya look as if ya've seen a ghost. Do I remind ya of someun'?"
"Lucy," Jose wheezed, but even doing that he still managed to sound victorious. "Allow me to introduce Nnoitra Gilga, the newest member of my guild. While he is quite loyal to me, I promise you that he is many times as impulsive as Gajeel-kun himself. It would be wise for you to stop this foolishness and listen to us like a good young lady, or I might need to unleash him on your friends again."
Nnoitra grabbed my hair with a sneer and shoved me back before I even noticed, and unable to catch myself I found myself right in front of the window on my back. Something cracked upon impact, but I don't think it was the ground—and suddenly, this excruciating pain shot up my leg, and I couldn't hold in the coming scream anymore.
"I've also found out quite recently—on his and Gajeel's mission in regards to Shadow Gear—that he can be quite a sadist when he chooses to be so."
"Hate to admit it, but Jose's right," Nnoitra leered, ducking to step into the room. He was almost too tall to even fit into the cell. "I'm restraining myself now. Hey, wanna know what I'm like when I go all-out?"
Jose crawled out of the way and laughed weakly as the man gripped me by the hair once more and lifted me until my feet were just dangling off the ground. With another sickly sneer he pulled away and landed another blow, this time to my ribcage, before releasing my hair and letting me stumble back in shock and pain.
And then oh my god, I was falling. I was about to topple over the edge, my feet were slipping, and I was seconds away from completely plummeting to my doom.
"All you have to do is come with us, Lady Lucy," Jose whispered, the faintest glimmers of a demonic smile starting to appear. "Although you'll have to pay for the hell you've just put me through."
No.
No, I wasn't going back home. Not like this. Not on my father's whim, not with his terrible ability to destroy the guild just because I was in it.
So I closed my eyes and threw my weight off the edge, and the rest of me followed suit.
Why?
Because, in my heart, I had heard him.
My friend would come to save me, I knew it.
Which friend? Only one would come for me.
I took a deep breath and screamed, "NATSU!"
...
Fate
...
"Damn. She's droppin' like a frickin' rock. What should I do about that?"
Nnoitra looked over the side of the building to see the girl plummeting down towards the ground. Kinda a satisfying sight, though he didn't know why.
He turned over his shoulder to the Master just in time to see a strained grin from his pained position on the ground.
"Absolutely nothing, Nnoitra-kun. Let her fall."
"But don't we need the bitch alive?"
"Such language..." Groaning, the man pulled himself to his feet and let out a sigh of relief. "She will survive, knowing her luck and the fairies, so we'll retrieve her later. For now, though, we must prepare for the final battle. Meet me in the control room in an hour, and then we'll crush these weaklings once and for all."
"Right."
"Right, what?"
At that point, Nnoitra had to stop himself from running the sick bastard through. Even from the ground, he still manages to look down on me.
"Right, Jose-sama."
"That's a good man." The smirk never left the man's face.
Nnoitra flipped off the decrepit old hag and flew out the door, not caring about the consequences in the slightest.
...
Fate
...
"COME BACK HERE, QUINTO!" Grimmjow roared, shooting off in the direction that the man had flown off into. But it was no use, the man had long since disappeared from view. City towers quickly gave way to a dismal rural landscape, a boring stretch of hills empty of anything save for a few large towers flying the Phantom flag in the distance.
From that day on, he decided that he'd never forget the symbol.
Damn it, he shouldn't have been so stupid! Deluding himself like that. Szayel had sort of been right—sort of, not entirely—in saying that Grimmjow couldn't pull it off. His injuries were holding him back in this case. If he hadn't been so surprised by the first attack from Gajeel and Nnoitra, then he could have tricked the Quinto into defeat this time around.
Same as the Cuatro.
If you can outsmart the fourth, Grimmjow Jaegerjaques, you can outsmart the fifth.
Then why did you just sit back and let him pummel you?
Because you, Grimmjow, are a failure. You wanted to be top, but you're sixth in line, dumbass. And you can't even equal Gilga without a stroke pure dumb luck and a caja negación to use.
That was the only thought that kept Grimmjow flying towards the largest of the castles in the distance—his own self-imposed threat to his ego. If he failed again, he was proving himself right. And he wouldn't let himself be disgraced like he had been back in Oak Town.
Oi, Kitty-kun! Stop beating yourself up, dammit, or I'll be outta a job!
Ack, not now. This was the worst possible timing on her part—especially since it sapped his own energy to talk with her. But ignoring her wouldn't work, it never did. "What do you want, Pantera?"
What do I want? Hmm, lemme think. Oh, I know. It's raining your f**king distant cousins down here!
That got him to scoff scornfully. So what?
So whenever it rains here, it means something's wrong in that tiny head of yours. I just figured that you're pissed about Nnoitra.
You think? He scoffed again and banked left to avoid a flock of bizarre birds flying way too slowly ahead of him. Christ, even the animals in Fiore were weird.
Of course I do. I do the thinking for you, numbnuts! Pantera's image manifested itself in the corners of his mind, and it didn't take much concentration to see that she was angry. There you are! Man, you look even worse than I had hoped—and watch that one along the side of your ribcage, or it's gonna bleed out. What the hell happened to you, exactly?
His hand went to said wound at the exact moment when it began to sting terribly. Damn it, why do you always have to be right about things like this?
Because I feel things before you do, it's like a reflex thing. Who did it?
Nnoitra was there, at that guild that keeps attacking the fairies. Wait, how do you not know this?
Oh, I knew you were fighting someone familiar, but I just assumed it was Laxus or Scarlet or Cana and didn't care enough to pay attention to the fight.
So you screwed me over?
Nah, I just forgot to give a shit. Wisely, she changed the subject before he could make up his mind on whether to throw her vessel into a volcano or the ocean. So, Phantom Lord, I think it's called. So he joined them? The ones that got that trio, Shadow Gear?
I'm not sure if he joined or not. He was wearing clothing with their symbol on it, but that could just be public endorsement or bounty hunting, I guess. With or without him in the picture, it's now Phantom against Fairy Tail, so it's them against us.
Yeah, that's right! We joined them, I totally forgot that. Tell me, do you think that the mark looks good on me?
She spun around and gestured extravagantly to the blue mark that had mysteriously appeared on her back, something that kinda surprised Grimmjow. He didn't realize that the marks on his body ended up being transferred to her. But then again, she had Kurosaki's scar across her chest too, and the scuff marks where the mask had been, so it shouldn't have come as much of a shock.
It looks like a tramp stamp.
Oh, so I guess we've both got tramp stamps, huh?
"Tch."
Ack! See, you said that and all of a sudden I got doused! The hell's got your panties in a knot, Grimmy? She rarely called him anything other than Kitty-kun—Grimmy was a welcome(?) change. Even if she sounded even more pissed than he was.
Just stay on yer damn peak, bitch. Leave the Quinto to me. I'll take care of him real good, make him suffer—
And you did such a fantastic job of that before! Oh wait, my bad. You didn't. You got pummeled by a guy a rank above you because you were too damn sure of yourself to just accept the obvious.
Which is? It was extremely hard to control a growl when he was thinking the reply instead.
That Aizen gave us our number for a reason. She got awfully quiet all of a sudden after that, never a good sign. The silence was just as welcome as the change of nickname, if not more.
Look, maybe you shouldn't take this too slow, if ya know what I mean. I mean, dragging it out just for the fun of it? That'll kill you. And you know it. Szayel has his magic and voodoo charm stuff back home, why don't you just—
"Okay, there are two problems with what you just said." Grimmjow gave up on thinking his replies to her and spoke, startling a small group of sheep-like creatures that had been grazing below him. "First, you little slut, nothing short of forcing me to go there yourself will get me to agree to take Szayel's charm."
That so?
"Bite me."
Hmm... Pantera was silent for a moment, and her visage walked out of view, but just when Grimmjow was getting his hopes up she exclaimed and jumped back into his mind's eye.
Alrighty then, Grimmy. I've got a deal in mind.
"And what's that?"
You do what I'm suggesting—listen to Lalu-chan and take the stuff the Octavo's got for you—and when you fight Gilga, I'll give you the peak in here. Free of charge.
Grimmjow inhaled sharply from surprise, causing his zanpakutô to laugh viciously. What hellish kind of deal was that?! Here he was, attempting to track down his adversary. And here she was, offering him the mountaintop during a fight? He didn't get it, it made no sense.
But almost immediately, he felt this incredible surge of excitement, one that he hadn't felt since his fight with Kurosaki.
Damn it.
His reply was cautious when he gave it—he didn't want to seem too excited or curious, because then she'd have the upper hand, and he absolutely loathed when she had that upper hand. "And if I get the peak, then what happens?"
That's right, you've never won the peak before, have ya, Kitty-kun? Well, lemme put it to ya this way. Cuatro had a Segunda Etapa, a second release stage. To do it, he stole his peak back from Murciélago.
Grimmjow wasn't able to hold back his response from that. "...Holy shit."
She spread her arms wide and spun around lazily, and unable to keep his mind off of the elusive peak he watched her. Believe me, Grimmy, I've spent plenty of time in this empty sack of crap you call a soul, and I can honestly say you don't have a Segunda Etapa anywhere. But who knows just how strong you'd get from a switch! For all we know, the peak would double your attack power.
Damn it. Pantera had him cornered. What kind of idiot would deny that power? She'd never let go of it if he accepted, she'd always gloat about it...
But...the peak...
Go ahead, King, she said with a smirk, and her eyes went narrow as if to say she knew exactly what he was thinking. Tell me what that second thing was.
A subject change. It was a couple moments of tense flying before he replied. "That place back in Magnolia isn't home. I don't know where you got that idea from, but get it out of your head."
My head? Hey, we share the same soul, idiot. The only reason I think it is because you do.
"...Shut up."
You can't make me. And if you think I'm wrong? Go ahead, stick yourself through the skull with your zanpakutô, see how well you get rid of me. A grin settled on her face as he mentally glowered, knowing that she was right yet again. As for me, I like the fairies. They're nicer than you'll ever be, and I get free booze. Win-win.
"It's just until I pay off the old midget. Then we leave."
Says the guy who decided to make the war between Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord his own personal vendetta. Hey, weren't you supposed to be following Gilga's spiritual pressure?
Son of a... It was gone. Goddamnit!
...Oops?
"C'mon, c'mon, where is it?" he yelled in frustration, but there was nothing left to find. Nnoitra's reiatsu was long gone. It had just vanished, all of a sudden, leaving not even the slightest of traces. Or maybe talking with Pantera had distracted him and he had let Nnoitra get away. Well, whatever the cause, there was no way to track him anymore. Now Grimmjow had this sudden terrible urge to slam his fist into something, preferably something breakable.
But the only thing nearby was the castle.
"You bitch, it's all your fault!" he hissed, speeding off towards the palace at the highest sonído he could muster.
He felt someone grasp his shoulder firmly, but when he checked who it was nobody was there. And then her voice purred invasively into his ear, and a shudder rode up his spine at her words.
"Guilty as charged. Get me the charm and find Nnoitra, and the peak is yours until he's dead."
Her voice and image disappeared as quickly as they had appeared, and so did the lingering chill.
Now he really wanted to punch something.
He swerved in his flight path and hit the ground of the palace running, leaping over the outer wall and back into flight. Two concentric circles around the bottom revealed nothing worth pummeling, so up he went. There were four large minarets surrounding the central structure, all much taller than the actual castle itself.
First tower. Nothing.
Second tower. A few grunts, he avoided them because the last thing he wanted to do was aggro his wounds anymore.
Third tower. Twice as many grunts, so he gave up on restraint and decked them all.
Second tower again. Those little phantoms had thought they could escape with their lives, did they? Not bloody likely.
But no Nnoitra anywhere.
This isn't doing anything, I'm just wasting time and energy. Ugh, I'll just have to find him some other way.
Grimmjow was heading back around towards the fourth and final tower when he heard the scream.
"NATSU!"
...What?
And he made the mistake of looking up just in time to see the blonde girl hurtling down towards him.
He barely even opened his mouth to comment before she slammed into his back, completely breaking him out of his flight and causing the two of them to topple into a brick wall at ground level. But as if that wasn't enough divine punishment, they crashed through and kept going, finally slamming up against another wall and ricocheting off to hit the dead ground at last.
Through the dust and debris, Grimmjow managed to make out a head of long blonde hair. Lucy's, wasn't it? But that was kinda weird, because beside that he couldn't really see much of anything. He just felt a heart beating eerily loud besides his ears, and for some reason he was having trouble breathing. It was like something was entirely crushing him from above and blocking the light.
Then he looked up and realized exactly how Lucy had fallen on top of him and instantly understood.
So that's why my breathing feels funny.
"...Blondie?" His voice came out muffled too. Thank god, or she might have noticed how uncomfortable he sounded.
A moan. "Owwwww...yes?"
"F**KING GET OFF MY FACE!"
Lucy yelped and shot right up, even going so far as to invoke a rare swear word. "Crap! Sorry, so sorry—"
"And since you're busy getting off of me, I don't suppose you could quit it with your damn apologies!" he snapped. His face felt red—he didn't know what red felt like but if his face felt like any color that would probably be it.
She made a sound like a strangled dog as she tried to get as far away as possible, but before she could move to her knees some terrible pain seemed to overcome her and she fell back to the ground with a cry.
"Ugh..." Grimmjow muttered something to himself and sat up, a hand to his head. Everything was spinning, so very very dizzy. He shook his head once to clear it, but it didn't really help very much. "Son of a... What just happened?"
"...Grimmjow?"
His gaze snapped up to see Lucy staring at him with this strange look on her face. What was it? Surprise? Shock? Confusion? Well, whatever it was, her mouth was in a perfect "O" and her eyes were wide.
Crap, I'm not sure how to deal with this. Lucy and Cana were two very different girls, from what he could see, but at least he knew that Cana could be tolerated with alcohol. Really, all he knew about Lucy was that she was blonde and kinda ditzy, and he was only completely sure about the blonde part.
He dared an answer. "...Yes?"
Immediately, she yelped again and attempted to squirm away to a safe distance, and that was when he noticed that someone had tied her wrists together.
"The hell's this?" If she had jumped from somewhere, then she had jumped from somewhere up high with no way to stop the fall or use magic to save herself. "So were you actively trying to kill yourself?"
She didn't answer, just bit her lip. Yes, yes she had been.
"Turn around, blondie."
"What?"
"Look, if you want me to cut through you instead of the ropes, I'd be happy to oblige—"
"No, that's fine!" Lucy exclaimed, and as Grimmjow pulled himself to a sitting position she managed to twist around until she was sitting uncomfortably close to him. If he so much as exhaled he would disturb her hair, it was that close to his face.
"Is this okay? I can't move my leg too much, I think it might be broken."
"...Well, not to be nitpicky, but you can also get outta my lap. Ya know, whenever you feel like it."
"Oh! Yeah, sorry, it just felt so..." Looking a little crestfallen, she slowly shifted away from him until she was sitting between his legs with just a tiny bit more space between the two of them. Really not much better than the lap—but from what she'd said about her leg possibly being broken, he'd just have to suck it up and deal with it.
"It just felt so...what?"
"Nothing!"
Suspicious much, Kitty-kun?
Just go away already. Grimmjow rolled his eyes and grabbed Pantera, placing one hand near the end of the blade and another on her wrist. There was a sudden jolt from her end when they touched, but he ignored it and placed the blade down in position. "Don't move."
"Yeah...whatever you say."
It was painfully slow work, cutting through the ropes, but thinking on it the lack of speed was probably because he was out of practice. He didn't remember the last time he had tried to free someone from their bonds while consciously trying to keep their hands intact. Oddly enough, it actually required focus to do this type of thing properly. He could have probably done it with his hands too, but he wasn't exactly keen on feeling one of those jolts again upon touching her. It was a weird feeling.
"I have to admit, I thought Natsu was going to come save me."
Her voice suddenly ripped him out of his concentration—so suddenly that he cut all the way through and sliced the palm of his hand in the process.
"Shit!" He hissed in pain and pressed his hands together. Great, as if his shitty day couldn't get more utterly terrible.
"Oh, did you get hurt?"
Grimmjow hid his hand behind his back just as she turned over her shoulder to meet his eyes. There was something in that gaze of hers that made just sitting there uncomfortable.
He gritted out a dull, "Nope, I'm perfect."
"Oh, come on. I'm not that stupid!" A halfhearted laugh escaped her, and that was about when Grimmjow realized something was wrong. Lucy never seemed this depressed around the other guild members, she was always happy. Right now she looked like she was waiting for God to strike her down where she stood.
She held a hand out over her shoulder expectantly, and it was trembling. "Lemme see."
Not sure what she can do, but I guess it's better than nothing. He revealed the hand to Lucy in silence and put it in hers as she took in a deep breath, just before she grabbed onto the bottom of her shirt and ripped a band of cloth from the fabric. A moment later, her hands stopped shaking as she began to wrap the cloth around his hand, surprisingly snug for a non-professional job.
"Not bad. Where'd you learn to do this?" Grimmjow asked, watching her carefully.
"Back when I was fourteen, I cut myself badly in the cook's kitchen back home. I'd get in trouble if anyone noticed or if I made a mess, so I had to figure it out myself and managed with what I had there."
Still not meeting his eye, she continued quietly. "Then I had to stitch it myself, since the staff was on break and I knew they'd tell my dad if I went to them. I knew how to sew from my mom, so I did the entire thing hidden in the kitchen, under the sink." A little chuckle escaped her then. "She always did say I was good at fixing things."
Oh, please. Maybe that little monologue would have seemed sweet to someone else, nostalgic even, but in Grimmjow's case this was just pissing him off. Just when he was settling into the way things were with the fairies, one of them just had to go and act all angsty on him? No, he wasn't gonna let that happen. He was going to get the reason out of her if it killed him.
"Okay, happy ending, you didn't bleed out through your palm." He crossed his arms and leaned away from her. "If that's the case, what the hell is wrong with you?"
"I...what?" The girl looked back at him and blinked a couple of times, unsure of what he meant. Or at least, she looked the part. But he could tell that Lucy was only playing innocent to his accusation.
"Quit BSing me already. I barely know more about you than your name and what one of your scars came from, and even I can tell you're acting screwed up."
Lucy was silent. Grimmjow assumed he was being nosy (he really didn't understand the complex social boundary between nosy and appropriate but decided not to push it) and instead watched as she finished wrapping the makeshift bandage and pulled her hands back to her lap. One of the best jobs he'd seen, which was saying something because the nurses back in Las Noches were trained professionals and had been unable to patch up some of his worst wounds. Hmm...maybe I should just shut up and have her help out with the rest of my injuries.
"I'm an heiress," she blurted out suddenly, facing back towards the city. Again, avoiding him. Despite the fact that he could have twitched in the slightest bit and they'd be touching.
Grimmjow snuck a sideward glance and noticed that she was on the verge of tears. Heiress? Like, a rich brat? What's there to cry about? "The hell're you telling me this for?"
"I don't know... I guess, after everything that's happening with Phantom now, everyone's gonna know, but I just have to get it out there eventually. You don't seem like a guy who spills secrets."
No, he thought, I'm actually just a guy who never has any secrets to spill.
But now that he knew it was a secret, he kinda wanted to know more. "So you're an heiress?" he prompted.
Lucy bit her lip and nodded. "Lucy Heartfilia, daughter of Jude Heartfilia and sole successor to his wealth. My mom, Layla Heartfilia, was the only other one in the family, but she died seven years ago. The Phantom guild master just told me that the only reason they're attacking Fairy Tail is to...'retrieve' me for my dad."
"Oh."
It sounded lame even to him.
But at least it elicited a response that wasn't a sigh or a nostalgic sentence or two. No, she turned over her shoulder with a sharp glare instead, and all that did was somehow bring her closer to him. "You could at least try to act like you care."
"Hey, look, bitch, I'm not an empathic person in the slightest, so don't go expecting anything better from me."
Lucy sighed again and slumped over a little bit as her voice took on a more self-deprecating tone. "The rest of the guild's right. You really are a jerk. And to think I actually murmur murmur murmur..."
That last bit he didn't catch, since her voice dropped until it hit the lowest possible volume where sound could be made.
"Eh? What did you say?"
Immediately, Lucy got this uncomfortable look on her face. "I said, I couldn't believe that murmur murmur murmur..."
There. There it was again. That same volume drop. She was hiding something else. And since Grimmjow was already on a secret-discovering roll today, he might as well figure that one out too.
I didn't hear her, Grimmy. Did you?
No. No he hadn't. "Look, blondie, I can't hear a word you're saying."
That must have been the wrong thing to say, because she spun around until she was facing him directly and her face flushed red as she said, "Well, maybe I didn't want you to hear it!"
"Then why the hell'd you say it?"
"Because."
"Because what?"
"If you're such an anti-empathic bitch, then you shouldn't care!"
"Well, you already said it twice, so just spit it out already!"
"Why should I?"
"Why? Why?! Because you're pissing me off, that's why!"
"I said I have a crush on you!"
"There, that's more li—"
Wait.
WHAT.
...Well damn, Kitty-kun. Pantera made an impressed sound that he only half-heard. You got a blonde to like ya? Maybe I should give you some more credit once in a while. Hey, you do know what a crush is, right?
Of course he knew. If there was one social term outside of Hueco Mundo that he knew, it was that one.
Grimmjow felt really lightheaded all of a sudden, staring at the pathetic little blonde heiress sitting between his legs with a furiously embarrassed look on her face.
Of course, there's always a chance that she's bluffing...oh wait, never mind. That's the same look the Bestias get around Harribel-sama. Yeah, she's totally into you. Congrats!
So she wasn't kidding.
That was about the time that Grimmjow discovered yet another strange truth about Fiore and its workings, the third truth to his name—girls were very strange. An untapped domain of terror, confusion, and comfort that hid behind a mask of innocence and clothing and bipolarity and scandalous ways.
He also discovered that he legitimately felt, for one of the first times in his life, embarrassed. It wasn't like one of those times when someone says, "That was so embarrassing," even though it wasn't. It was more like, "Holy shit this girl likes me why does she like me why did I not know this how am I supposed to deal with this stunning new development everything is weird now or is it was it weird before I don't know how should I know all I know is that I'm not gonna survive this help me someone anyone please." Or something along those lines.
But besides that, well, all Grimmjow could think about was how very very close she was to him and how very very awkward this suddenly felt.
Maybe she felt worse than him, telling him that. It took guts to tell him. But then again, it also took guts to walk away from that unscathed.
(A/N: Everyone in the world. You know what I'm talking about.)
Lucy was the one to break the silence, at last. "That's why I didn't want you to hear me."
...No shit.
And the weirdest thing was, she was still crying a little about what had happened with her dad. It didn't help ease the tension, not even a little. "Can we pretend I never said that?"
"You should stop crying," he said quickly, looking at the ground.
"Why?"
"I can't take you seriously when you look like that." Only a half lie.
She snickered quietly, but then grew serious again. "...Well, excuse me, your royal highness. I didn't realize you were afraid of girls."
"I'm not afraid of girls."
"So why are you asking me to stop crying?"
"Because it's weird."
"Are you trying to make me just forget seven years of suffering and solitude just so you're comfortable?"
Silence. Lucy and Grimmjow had a staring war, each one trying and failing to drill through the other's facade. In the end, Grimmjow leaned back to a safe distance and flopped back on the grass, and Lucy began to silently cry once more.
Okay, definitely time to change topics—the awkward silence got old after a while. "So you said your dad sent Phantom after you?"
A look of immense relief settled on Lucy's face, but the somber one never left her. "I did."
"Well, think of it this way. At least you have a dad."
She seemed just as desperate and thankful for the switched subject as he had been. "No. No I don't." At that point, she reached up and wiped the tears out of her eyes. "I refuse to call him my dad. He's a terrible man. As soon as my mom died, he shut me out entirely. That was seven years ago, and finally I ran away about the same time Szayel appeared in the guild. So I've been struggling to stay in one piece all this time. That bastard left me to fend for myself for seven damn years, and all of a sudden, he wants me back?"
Grimmjow wasn't going to pretend he understood anything about her family, or pretend he cared enough to try and comfort her. Or pretend that he wasn't still really really confused about the whole crush thing. But there was one thing that he could honestly say rang true with him.
"Fend for yourself, eh?" Somehow, that brought a smirk to his face. "That I can relate to."
"...But I thought you had brothers."
Had. Past tense. The reminder hit him hard enough to snap him out of that "HELP ME" state and get him moving again.
"Yeah, I did. But before them, I was alone." As he sat back up, his fingers seized a nearby pebble and chucked it halfheartedly into the grass. "After them, too."
"Oh."
It probably sounded lame to her too.
Words didn't fill the void they had left.
"Well, you don't have to be alone anymore. You're with Fairy Tail. They...they don't leave anyone behind."
She was staring at the back of her hand, at the orange-pink mark branded to her skin, and looking like she was only seconds from gouging it out.
"The hell are you talking like that for? You're one of them, aren't you?"
Her hand closed into a fist as she began to shake.
"Aren't you?" he pressed, although he didn't quite get why.
She began to open her mouth to reply just as a column of fire scorched the sky.
"LUCYYYYYYYY!"
Oh, just great. As if Grimmjow's head didn't already hurt. Now the pyro had to make his presence known.
Lucy seemed to recognize the voice even sooner than the fire. "Natsu," she said, looking nervous all of a sudden. Without warning, she tried to stand, but that didn't exactly work with a broken leg, and she fell on top of him once more with a cry of pain. "Damn it! Oh man, Natsu can't see this. He'll freak."
Grimmjow was just trying to get her off.
Wow! First girl and already putting the moves on 'er? Bravo, King!
Shut the f**k up, Pantera!
"Luce! I heard her! Hey, where are ya?"
"I brought you a fish, Lucy!"
"Great idea, Happy! We can use it to hit Jose!"
"No, it's for her to eat."
"Then quit nibbling on it!"
Crap, they're getting close. Grimmjow tried to push her off of him, but before he could her hand accidentally grazed the wound from Gajeel's pillar and he let out a yell as she hit a couple hundred nerves simultaneously. On complete impulse, the fighting kind, he flipped her over him and rolled back with her until they had entirely traded places.
Just as Natsu and Happy came over the top of the hill and saw them.
"Son of a bitch," Lucy muttered, blinking away her tears as a look of pure terror replaced that sorrow of before.
"Luce! Hey, since it's cold as heck up here I got ya a blanket from one of the lackeys, thought ya might like it!" The boy's run slowed to a stop as he caught sight of the Sexta (and the Lucy beneath him), and his face twisted in confusion. "...Hey, Six, the hell're you—"
When Grimmjow saw the look of confusion fade to fury, he figured he might as well tempt fate and answer sarcastically. "...Flying," he settled for.
That wasn't the right answer considering Lucy was still trying to get out from under him.
Welp, Kitty-kun, you're screwed. Nice knowing ya, buddy.
Grimmjow didn't think pyros could use icy glares, and yet any colder and Natsu might have frozen his whole head off. Happy's was the same, only slightly less threatening with a fish in his hand.
He sat up and half-dragged the injured Lucy to a sitting position, wisely moving far away from her before Natsu tried to roast him.
"What, 'xactly," Natsu ground out, "got you...'flying' with Lucy?"
Almost immediately, his defensive side kicked in. "I wasn't doing anything with her."
"Oh, yeah?"
Happy looked worried and angry at the same time, a strange mix on a cat's face. "Natsu—"
"Shut it, Happy," the Dragon Slayer snapped, taking the blanket and walking over to Lucy with this strange air around him. It was kind of like a burning sort of pressure, like a volcano set to explode—Grimmjow felt himself sweating already. But only from the heat, nothing else.
He plopped down next to Lucy with the blanket in hand, draping it around her shoulders with a surprisingly gentle touch. "Luce, you okay?"
A nod from her, but before she could say anything tears began to well up in her eyes and she began to cry again.
"Don't cry, Lucy! C'mon, you're no fun like this."
"I-I'm so sorry, Natsu," she whispered, just before dissolving back into tears. "So very, very sorry..."
"What for?"
No response—Lucy stared at her lap, clutching the blanket around her. Around then, he caught sight of the ropes on the ground and let out an infuriated snort.
"Someone tied her up, huh?" When Natsu stood again with frayed ropes in hand, his glare could have burned a building in passing. "Cut by a sword, Six. You better not have had anything to do with this."
"I didn't f**king do anything to her!"
"Then what the hell happened?!"
"I was flying by and she fell from the sky and hit me."
"Okay, I get that I'm not a freaking genius, but you expect me to actually believe that?!"
Before he knew it, he ended up speed-explaining the whole thing with Gajeel, Nnoitra and the fight at Oak Town to the mage from his point of view, all the way up to Lucy falling—but from what he could tell, Natsu wasn't buying much of it. He seemed hellbent on blaming Six for Lucy's suffering. Go figure. Grimmjow was technically the one who had saved her. But screw thanking the savior.
When Nnoitra came up in the conversation, however, Lucy went rigid. "Nnoitra...I recognize that name. He was up there at my cell. He's the one who broke my leg."
"He what?" Grimmjow said, and it took him less than an instant to realize Natsu had said it with him. Apparently, Lucy's confirmation was all the confirmation he needed.
"Wait, the super tall Phantom guy? The one who fought Six?" Happy yelled.
"They were the ones who attacked Shadow Gear too," continued Lucy. "Him and Gajeel."
"Whaat?!"
"And he was up there?!"
So close. So damn close.
"Ya mean that bastard broke your leg?!" At least Natsu could do one thing right. Immediately, he and the cat rushed to her side to help her out. "How bad d'ya think it is, Luce?"
"I'm not a doctor, I don't know. But it hurts a lot."
"Lucy, there's still some fish if you want it."
"Don't worry, we'll get you back to the guild in no time! Right, Happy?"
"Aye!"
The Sexta wasn't paying any attention to the conversation between the trio. He was just thinking about the fact that he had let the bastard slip through his hands. Grimmjow could barely keep from exploding as he kicked at the dirt at his feet and eventually squatted back down, ignoring his wounds in his furor. "That damn Quinto! Right above my head... He keeps blowing me off like this, there's gonna be hell to pay."
That got him a glare from the Fire Dragon Slayer, who stood up and advanced on his Espada adversary. "Not as much as you'll be paying if anyone in Fairy Tail sees your hands on Luce again."
"Is this really what you're going to talk about now? Nnoitra, the one who attacked both me and your guild is getting away—"
"Well, he didn't exactly have Luce pinned down against the f**king ground a minute ago, now did he?!"
"Listen to yourself, you're making a damn accident into some perverted attempt at..." He left it at that, sure that the message was being carried across perfectly fine without his help.
While Lucy looked pretty embarrassed, there was a nervous side of her that seemed to be poking through the surface then. Well, it made sense when he considered how Natsu was acting. "Natsu," she said, consoling, "please just trust me when I say that that was an accident. Grimmjow didn't do—"
"Shut up, Lucy! This guy is a monster. Look, he knew the guy who works for Jose, the one who helped Gajeel get his hands on Levy and the guys. If he knew the bastard that hurt you from anywhere, it was probably from that homeplace of his, what with the way they acted at Phantom."
"Wh-what? So...I was right," she whispered. "The resemblance. Are...are you two related?"
"We are nothing alike!"
Bullshit, Grimmy, you're like consecutively numbered peas in a pod.
"How many of you are here now?"
"Me, Tier, Szayel, the three Bestias, Nnoitra. Seven."
"Seven, huh? Let's get one thing straight, pal. Any of you...freaks do anything to hurt Lucy, especially you," Natsu hissed, "and you won't live to see another day."
"Oh?" Grimmjow stood slowly and brought himself up to his full six feet, towering over the little salmonhead in experience, age, and literal height. "You gonna threaten me, shortstuff?"
Not a waver from Natsu. Not even a little. "I'm not the one who got his ass kicked in by Phantom."
"Oh, I'm sorry. Weren't you completely outclassed by that Dragon Slayer they had?"
"Hey, back off, pal. I don't know what the hell you were doing here, but I don't like it. It's too damn fishy. The way yer acting!"
"What acting?! I'm trying to catch the smug bastard who tried to kill me twice!"
"And I bet if you weren't here at all, he wouldn't be in Phantom making our guild into a pincushion! Ya know, all of the problems in Fairy Tail started when you came around. If you hadn't come to Laxus, you'd be dead in a ditch somewhere and our guild would be that much happier!"
"Well, I'm sorry! Next time someone blindsides me, I'll give you a call before I bleed to death! Hell, maybe I'll do it in person, drop my corpse on your doorstep!"
"Do you even know the hell our guild has been through because of them? Gramps was attacked by an Element Four member, he's barely breathing now and his magic'a gone! "
"Dammit, don't blame me for—"
"Why the hell did we even take you in in the first place?! Gaah, why didn't I agree with Erza before? You're not fairy material at all, you tried to kill our top wizards before you were even walking here! And then, you join the guild, and you can't even do the one thing that we all live by?!"
"Which is?"
"IF YOU'RE A MEMBER OF FAIRY TAIL, SIX," Natsu roared, "THEN YOU PROTECT A FAIRY WITH YOUR LIFE! SO TELL ME, WHY IS LUCY HURT?!"
Natsu looked about to say some more, but before he could the Sexta noticed the distinct sound of a sob in Lucy's general direction.
"Oye, asshole," Grimmjow barked before Natsu could continue. "Yer making the blondie cry, quit it."
"I'm not trying to make her cry!"
"Then stop trying to do anything. You're not helping at all."
Happy dropped out of his flight and landed beside her. "Lucy, don't cry, please."
"I'm so sorry," she whispered again. "This whole thing, the war, it's not because of you, Grimmjow. And Natsu, I know you're trying to do what's best for the guild. But this war...it's...it's all my fault. If I wasn't part of the guild, none of this would have happened."
"Luce, what the hell're you talkin' about?" Natsu said, sitting down next to her with a hand on her shoulder. "None of this is your fault at all!"
"It is my fault! I'm the reason everyone's hurt... But I don't wanna leave anyone at the guild, 'cuz I love being in Fairy Tail!"
"Why the hell would you quit if you don't wanna?" Grimmjow asked suddenly, turning back to her. He felt obligated to reassure her for some reason. "You wanna stay, stay. I don't give a crap either way, so just do whatever you feel like doing. Hell, maybe I'll even pay Nnoitra back for ya while I'm busy pounding his ass into the floor."
Silence.
Slowly, impressed yet again, Pantera began to clap. Bravo, Mister Profound-when-Required.
Lucy gave him one last grateful smile, just before bursting into tears once more.
As soon as she did, Natsu started acting normal again, looking pretty worried another her from what Grimmjow could see. He wasn't actively trying to hate Grimmjow, it seemed. More like he was just trying to make Lucy happy and keep her safe. Weird.
"C'mon, Luce, no sense crying over this. We'll get ya back to the guild in no time, promise. Here, want me to carry ya?"
"Aww, look, Natsu, you made her cry even more."
While the duo was bickering, probably with Lucy's best interests at heart but still annoying nonetheless, Grimmjow picked her up as gently as possible and draped her over his back, putting her arms around his shoulders so that she wouldn't fall.
"Don't listen to those numbskulls," he muttered as he picked up her legs and wrapped them around his torso. Normally he'd feel uncomfortable from the proximity, and from the crying, but the fact that she had clearly defined her status as a loner made things so much less strange. Just two loners helping each other out. "And trust me—the only one I have to blame for anything is that bastard Gilga, for f**king with me two times too many."
"Uh?! Hey, Six, the hell are you doing?!"
"What you were too busy bitching about to do."
"...Thank you, Grimmjow," Lucy breathed softly, barely moving a muscle.
"Why?"
"Because you're not abandoning me because of what I've brought to Fairy Tail."
"I'm not here to care about Fairy Tail, blondie." He scoffed at that and then grew silent, but after a moment he managed a sincere laugh. "Well, I'm bad with conversation, so let's just get you back to those fairies you hate leaving so much."
"Yeah," Lucy said back, and he could tell she was smiling. "That'd be nice."
...
Natsu
...
"Ouch!"
I didn't know what I was going to do with Lucy anymore.
To catch you up to what the hell was happening to our guild, I'll tell ya. Maybe it'll clear it up for me, since I don't really get it either.
We—Lucy, Grimmjow, Happy and I—got back to the guild around an hour after I'd found the two of them. Man, something was up with that blue bastard! I didn't like him, not even a little. I had thought fighting him would be fun before, but now that I had a legit reason to beat the the shit outta him it made it so much more appealing.
The guild hall didn't look like it had gone through a spiked blender anymore, which was always nice, but it still looked pretty bad. Gajeel's pillars had been removed and the holes patched, making Fairy Tail into a sort of half-building half-lumberyard thing. It was still really messed up on the top floor and lobby, so everyone was camped out in the basement. And a lot of people were hurt. So many. It was depressing, seeing so many people covered in bandages and bruises and casts and splints. In my opinion, it was all Erza's fault, since she had been too damn scared to keep fighting them and had ordered a retreat. And I doubt that seeing all this helped Lucy at all.
Speaking of Lucy.
Or I guess it was Lucy Heartfilia now...
Nah. Lucy alone fit her just fine.
When we returned, Mira set about trying to cast Lucy's leg, which that new Phantom guy had broken. What was his name? Notoria? No, Nnoitra. That was it. I had only seen him once, when he had fought and completely owned Six at the Phantom branch in Oak Town. But I didn't have to see him twice to hate him. I knew he had some connection to the newest member of our guild, and I was gonna figure it out. And I was gonna pay him back for what he had done to my friend.
She was in bad shape, any way you looked at it. And not just injury—something big was bothering her. And eventually we found out what. While Macao and Wakaba and the other geezers made retaliation plans in the Master's stead, she told us everything. Why she had been kidnapped, how she had left her old home and gotten to Fairy Tail, and what had caused Phantom to attack us. Apparently it was all because her dad had hired them to do it. Her dad, Jude Heartfilia.
What was the word she had used to describe herself? Debutante? De-something. Big fancy word that didn't make sense. But I got the meaning from the looks Gray, Erza and Cana gave her. Filthy stinking rich, that's what it meant. Even I knew the name Heartfilia—he was the one who owned all those stupid trains that crossed this area of Fiore. Damn trains.
Well, train owner or not, it didn't matter when I saw Lucy sitting down in the basement with us. No matter how many times I looked at her, I just couldn't bring myself to picture her playing the spoiled princess brat. This was a girl who barely made enough money to buy that puny apartment of hers, a girl who went on adventures with Happy and Gray and Erza and me, and had a blast too. Nobody cared if she was a rich brat, because she wasn't a rich brat. She was a fairy, just like all of us.
Apparently, though, she still needed some convincing of that. The guilty look on her face said it all. She thought everything was her fault and she was to blame, and anyone who saw her realized that she felt that way. But that was just stupid! C'mon, Erza had said that a war between Phantom was long overdue, and I believed her so why couldn't Lucy? They deserved a good pounding, and what they were doing now just gave us a better reason to fight them.
Right now, pain was twisting her features, and yet I could still see that she was trying to hold back tears. Geez, she never cried like this. Hell, she never cried, period. For what must've been the trillionth time, I put a hand on her shoulder to calm her down. "Relax, Luce. This isn't your fault."
For what must've also been the trillionth time, she didn't respond, just gritted her teeth and let out a shaky sigh as she released her grip on the couch cushion.
Mira looked downright exhausted, like she would fall asleep any second. Made sense, since she had been treating everyone here while Szayel was helping Porlyusica tend to Gramps. "Lucy, please don't move so much! It's hard enough to bandage a hand or two, but a whole leg can really hurt you if I do it wrong."
"...I know. It's just so painful, I've never broken a bone before. I'm sorry for complaining."
"No, it's all right," Mira said with a strained smile, wiping her forehead. "You have every right."
Grimmjow spoke up before I could stop him—maybe he thought this was his territory or something, since we were all gathered around his couch and Lucy was sitting on it. The fact that he had given it up for her still surprised me, since he seemed to like it so much.
"Blondie, don't look at your leg when she's doing that." He leaned over the back of the couch over her
Wincing, she looked up to see him. "Why not?"
"Seeing it keeps your mind on the pain, so think about something else."
"Thanks—"
"Tch. Already told you to stop thanking me."
"Oh..." Looking a little embarrassed, she retreated back into her silent state. What the hell did he do that for? See, that's what I find fishy about him. He's always acting weird around us.
"There. Done, for now at least." Mira sighed and tossed the bandage roll to Gray, who had been helping her out with some of the other fairies she'd been helping. He started rolling it up and gave it back to her for her to put back into her first-aid kit. "Don't try to walk on it without help, I'll get Szayel to look at it when he comes over later."
"Thank you, Mira," Lucy said, looking at the makeshift splint around her left leg with a wistful look. Probably dreaming of the days of normal walking. That would be a while.
"I'm glad I could help you, Lucy!" A smile lit up her face as she stood and brushed off her dress, but somehow it looked too much like an act. "Now, if you'll all excuse me, I need to go talk to someone."
"Who?"
She sighed the same way a mom probably does when consulting her kids—again, orphan here, no idea if moms actually do that—and replied, "Laxus."
"Him? Ha. Good luck," Grimmjow mumbled. She just shot him a glance and then walked towards the bar to join Cana in the effort of convincing Laxus to help us. Not that we needed him, I could totally do whatever he can do!
"Wow. We're going so far as to ask Laxus for help?" Gray shook his head a couple times. "Things must be worse than they seem."
Elfman had joined us while his sister was helping out, and when he heard that he had to comment. "Gray, just take a look at this place right now. Things already seem pretty bad—and you're hearing this from a real man, so it must be true."
A scoff at the man comment—how Elfman wasn't used to that response, I have no idea. "Well, no matter what, we're gonna get them back for this. Right, Lucy?"
My attention turned to her as she placed her hands in her lap and looked down demurely. Hell, when she acted so damn wimpy, she was a perfect rich brat. But it was disturbing to see her like that.
"Yeah. Besides, that's not what I'm upset about. It's just...all my fault."
"Enough with the 'all my fault'," I yelled, stepping in front of her to make sure she saw me. Why would the she just listen to us, her friends, her guildmates?! "Luce, you didn't do anything!"
"He's right, Lucy. Being targeted is just a downside of being rich." This time, Elfman wisely held back his daily manly tidbit of advice, which was rare.
"Is this Heartfilia guy really that rich?" Grimmjow asked, looked confused by the rest of us. Well, he wasn't from Magnolia, so how would he know?
Gray and Elfman gave him the basic details of how the Heartfilia company owned God knows how many everythings everywhere. By the time they had finished, Lucy looked even more upset and Grimmjow just seemed more confused.
"Well, we're screwed! Hey, this bottle taken?" Without waiting for an answer, Cana grabbed the unclaimed beer and sauntered back up to us with Mira close behind. And they couldn't look more different—while Mira was on the verge of tears, Cana was angrily wielding her bottle like a club to clear a wide path in front of her.
"Damn, that was fast. What happened with ol' Thunder Hands?" asked Gray.
Mira bit her lip and sucked in a deep breath, but honestly I don't know what she'd been expecting. "No luck with Laxus."
"The bastard won't help us unless Lucy becomes his girl and I strip for him, so we can forget about his help." Cana ground out, crumpling the cards in her hands. "Lucy, I take it your answer would have been a no?"
The glare she shot the drunk was answer enough.
"Right, didn't think so. And naturally, I can't find Mystogan anywhere, no matter how hard I search. That means the strongest members here in the case of an attack are Erza and Grimmjow."
Oh joy.
I must be worse at hiding things than I think I am, because Grimmjow snorted triumphantly with just a glance my way. "What, salmonhead? You jealous?"
"Hey, you wanna go, pal, I'll go!" I yelled, stepping forward to meet him, but before I could do anything Mira got between us.
"That's enough, you two! Our guild is in enough trouble as it is, so there's no sense in making things worse. With Erza occupied and the Master and others away, I'm in charge, and right now the two of you need to get along." She fixed me with a fiery glare, then gave him the same one, before turning back and going off to find someone else who might need her help.
Grimmjow scoffed as soon as she was out of range. "Tch. Batty little bitch."
"But Mira has a point," Lucy argued, and miraculously that shut him up. "Please don't fight."
"Lucy, can I ask something?" Happy said, pulling on her sleeve to get her attention. "I gotta say, the news really surprised me. So why didn't you tell us anything before? Why'd you hide the truth?"
"I wasn't trying to hide anything," she replied hotly. "I mean, it's not like I can just bring something up like this in a normal situation. I've been gone for a year, and then all of a sudden this happens. My dad hasn't cared for that long, and then he just decides to destroy the guild that I care so much about?! I hate his guts for doing that!..."
Lucy got real quiet then.
"But maybe...if I hadn't left home, none of this would be happening. The guild wouldn't be suffering because of my own selfish actions. I'm so very sorry for everything... Maybe if I go home and hope for the best, all this will be over with."
How much of this bullshit did she expect me to take?!
"Look, Luce, I can't see ya playing a rich...what's the word, debutante? I don't see it. You and mansions don't mix for me. No, being a fairy with us, going on adventures and just having fun and being together, that's where you belong." I crossed my arms and put on a smirk—if she didn't see I wasn't lying, what was the point? "Who're you trying to kid? You're Lucy of Fairy Tail, and you belong here, so no more runnin'. Got it?"
For a moment, she just sat there, staring at me like I had a giant painting of a unicorn on my face. But eventually, she seemed to get the message. "...I guess you're right, Natsu," she said, reaching up to wipe her tears away and finally smiling.
"There's that smile of yours. About damn time, too."
She chuckled a little and then turned to Gray, asking, "Does anyone else in the guild know?"
"How would they know? You said you didn't tell anyone else."
"Well...I did tell Grimmjow," she said softly, and when I saw the blush on her cheeks I felt some sort of fire start burning in my head. Kinda like rage, or maybe annoyance. No wait, it was both. But mostly rage. That bastard, I don't know what he did to Lucy, but when I found her she had been crying. It must have been him, it could only be him. And he would not make Lucy cry, not on my watch.
Rightly so, Neko-chan looked like he was attempting to turn invisible. Smart of the little kitty. I'd probably kill 'im if he reached full opacity.
"I recognize that look... Look, I told you already, there's nothin' to thank, blondie."
"Oh, don't be that way," Lucy snickered, cracking a smile once again. Weak, but at least it was real. "I'll find some other way to thank you for saving me, just you wait."
"...I don't know whether to be scared of that or not."
Ohh, I wanted to punch him so bad now, I was just itchin' for a fight. But not with Lucy and Mira watching.
Before anyone could comment any further on this ("anyone" being me and "comment" being rant about), someone thundered down the stairs, stopping all conversation between the guild members. Alzack, with Bisca on his heels.
"Everyone, look outside, NOW!" His voice was frantic, like he had been chased by a wild hound or something. Not good. "They're coming!"
"Who?!" Mira said.
"Just come!"
Immediately, the guild erupted into chaos, a hundred-odd mages scrambling for the stairs with the gunman in the lead. And it was f**king crazy—being right next to the stairs, we were almost trampled in the mad rush to make it outside. As if the mess couldn't get worse, right on cue the building began to shake.
"What the hell's going on?!" Gray yelled, grabbing onto the wall for support.
"This isn't good!"
"Six, take this!" Bisca said, leaning over the stairwell and shoving something shiny into his hand. That charm from a couple days ago, the one that Szayel had made. "Szayel sent it with us for you, said you'd need it."
He pocketed it immediately and nodded in acknowledgement. "Right."
"C'mon, Lucy," I said, putting my arm around her as she began to stand. With me on her injured side, she could move pretty well, so in that way we managed to get out of the building at a pretty decent pace.
One by one, aall of us made our way outside the building, on the beachside part of our property—Fairy Tail's backyard, I guess—in various states of preparedness and injury to see what Alzack was talking about. I caught sight of Erza looking as if she had just come out of the shower, which she probably had, and some people like Nab and Macao hadn't been able to make it out of the guild without help from others.
"Natsu, put me down," Lucy suddenly said, and I helped her sit down on the pavement in a way that she could see Alzack frantically gesturing for everyone to leave the building.
"You'll be alright here?"
"Of course," she said. "Don't worry about me."
"What is it, Alzack?" Erza exclaimed, looking just as frenetic as him if not more.
"Look out to the water!"
I followed his directions and looked out to see an enormous silhouette looming against the clouds out to sea, but I couldn't see more than that. But I recognized the shape, a little at least. The closer it got, the clearer it became, and the more it looked like...
Oh, crap.
Phantom Lord Headquarters could walk.
Picture, if you will, a giant piece of land with a huge palace sitting atop it. It's impressive, I guess. The palace has six huge metal spider legs, which caused all of the shaking we felt whenever they stepped forward.
Now think of your worst childhood memory. Add that feeling to the building as it lurches towards you.
And as the clincher, picture it moving towards your house.
Pretty accurate.
"What the hell is that?"
"Is that...is that Phantom?!"
"It's huge, that must be their headquarters!"
"How the f**k are we supposed to fight that thing!?"
"I don't know!"
"We were there a few hours ago. That's their headquarters alright," Grimmjow mumbled, glaring at the building as it ground to a stop about half a mile away from shore.
"I can't believe they'd actually go to such extremes to attack our guild at its weakest!" Erza broke through to the heart of the crowd beside Grimmjow, who had somehow found himself at the front as well. "This is a low blow, even from them."
[The magic-focusing cannon, Jupiter. Ever heard of it, Fairy Tail?]
Jose. I'd recognize that slimy bastard's voice anywhere, even if I couldn't see him at all.
As we all watched, the entire front wall of the castle collapsed inwards, revealing a giant bronze tube that began to extend outwards until it looked an awful lot like a gun barrel.
"This isn't good!" Erza yelled, spinning around and facing us. "Everyone, stay back from this.
[So, Fairy Tail came calling, eh?] Jose's smug voice echoed through the air around us. [Well, I understand. By all means, you had every right. But I'm afraid you all had your chance to stop us. And as of right now...]
At the end of that ginormous cannon, there was this bright spark for a second, and then all of a sudden this massive black orb of power began to appear in its place. From it, ribbons of golden energy started to extend, swirling around the orb until the whole thing looked like a huge strobe light show.
"That magic energy!" Erza cried out, throwing her hands up to shield herself as said magic energy let off a brilliant shockwave of power that nearly ripped the roof off the guild hall.
Out of all of us, Grimmjow looked like he was the only one unaffected by the magic. But he still looked uneasy, maybe even more so than we were. "The hell's into you?" I yelled.
"There's something wrong here," he gritted, pointing to the growing energy before us. "It's not just magic, although I can sort of feel the pressure it's giving off. But besides it, that thing is giving off reiatsu."
"Reiatsu?" Cana yelled. "What's that?"
"The stuff my ceros are made of. Nnoitra must have something to do with it!"
His hand tightened around that charm in determination, kind of like someone getting ready to throw something, but instead he unsheathed his sword and clipped the charm through a blue ribbon wrapped around the hilt. "What's that thing for?
"This?" Surprising me yet again, he grinned and hefted his weapon in excitement. "This, this is for my zanpakutô. The final fight. Six and five, fairy and phantom, fire and steel. And I got no problems with that."
Now he was talking.
[Say hello to your demise, Fairy Tail. I do believe it's our turn to shine.]
...
And so it begins! Or continues, it all depends on viewwwwpoinnnnttt! Sorry if this chapter seemed kinda off to you, I just had this epiphany on how to go about making shipping interesting and screwing with the plotline of FT, and a few other things.
Next chapter! The Phantoms and the Fairies have a lovely seaside picnic. If by "seaside picnic" I mean "full-scale war" and by "lovely" I mean "involving Element Four". Action chapter ahoy!
Until that special time—next weekend—ciao!