Tales of Magnolia: Chapter 14
"Friends are thieves of time."
~Francis Bacon
[Warning: Timeskip of about a day]
He dived.
She anticipated his movements and pushed away to the left, barely missing the tip of his sword. With a grunt, he flipped over and picked himself up. She wouldn't allow him even one minute of rest. She went for his head, but he blocked her at the last minute, catching her by surprise.
Now he would have the upper hand.
Realizing her mistake, she jumped back with a gasp, as his sword came down crashing on hers with extreme force. With a twist of her wrist she deviated the hit and stepped to the left.
He followed her path, both tracing an invisible circle along the pavement. He made the first move by attacking her straight forward. She jumped to the side, threw her sword in the air, cart wheeled past him and caught the weapon again. He turned briefly and lounged for her legs. She jumped up and he prepared for a hit coming from the sky by defending his head with his sword and bending back slightly so that if she were to hit him, he would have the upper advantage with his strength.
She snarled, coming up with a new way of attacking him.
Using her feet, she swept at his legs, destabilizing him. He didn't have time to realize what was happening. As he felt himself fall backward, his instincts forced him to reach out, to grab anything to prevent his fall.
It happened to be her forearm.
With a shriek she got pulled along with him. A loud splash was heard.
"Damn it, will you get rid of that fountain already!" Juvia yelled at her husband.
He got out of the fountain and stripped of his soaked clothes.
"Oh no you don't," She added as he was about to take off his undergarments.
He looked at her confusedly.
She glared back. " Don't you dare walk around the house naked again."
"True, we don't all wanna see your thing y'know?" A voice added.
Gajeel Redfox sat on the front steps of the mansion, his official seat as the referee who had to prevent Juvia and Gray from 'accidentally' killing each other during one of their many 'practices'.
"Geez you guys are so demanding. And what's up with my house becoming this sort of hotel where you can stay for free?" He replied, making sure his underpants didn't come off accidentally.
"Well, excuse me but now that I am married to you, I don't intend to let go of your fortune just yet." The Dancer said.
"Oh, so you were after the gold after all…" Gray glared back at her.
She shrugged but sent him a death glare. She wasn't after his money, and he knew it. She wasn't really after anything. She just wanted to get out of this marriage as soon as she could and never see the man again… Well, not exactly.
True she really hated him, but that wasn't all the time.
True he was an annoying douchebag at some points, but she was bitchy sometimes too.
When she thought of it, they were actually pretty suitable for each other.
Juvia grimaced. This wasn't good. Falling for him was not part of the plan. She really didn't need to deal with a one sided love too.
"I'm going-" She started.
"- No one is leaving this place until you explain to me what happened at that party, Gray, Juvia." Erza promptly cut in.
Both of them gulped.
"W-well, I'll let Gray explain…" Juvia whispered.
Erza turned toward him. Her glare sent shivers down his spine, and he swallowed with difficulty.
"Ah. So you are the responsible one."
That wasn't true. He sent Juvia a glare. Why in the world did that woman make everything so complicated for him? True, he hadn't really been talkative at the party, and had disappeared after a short while, but that was because Juvia had wanted to talk with him! How was he responsible for Mirajane's younger sister Lisana having walked on them in a compromising pose?
"Well, we sort of got distracted." He said.
Erza raised an eyebrow.
"Distracted? Lisana specifically specified that you were trying to get Juvia pregnant of their couch. Care to explain where the part try to be as sociable as possible went?"
The Dancer's jaw dropped and blood rushed to her cheeks. Gray smirked at her reaction.
"Chill, I talked with some people. Bisca and Alzack have invited me to their wedding. And Lyon and Sherry were there." He quickly added, seeing Erza's not amused expression.
She crossed her arms over her metal plate.
"Ah, so you were at least useful. Good, I guess this will have to do for now." She replied, as she made her way back in the house, waiting for Gajeel to move out of her way, which he promptly did.
The Thief stared at the couple, mouth agape much like Juvia's previously. He kept looking between the two incredulously. Action which was starting to seriously creep both Juvia and Gray.
"Um…Gajeel…"
"Redfox. What is it?"
They both said at the same time.
The man looked again between the two, stood up and was about to go back inside before letting his answer out.
"Ya know it's better to have a mother and a father if you're getting a kid."
Meanwhile
Lucy dropped the last crate on the ground of the kitchen. She wiped the sweat off her forehead, and breathed heavily. Having lived all her life as a precious porcelain doll, she'd never lifted things this heavy before. Apparently, as long as she was going to live here, she'd have to build some muscles, because carrying twenty three crates of strawberries everyday would be very good exercise.
Natsu had been almost no help at all, because she had realized his weakness for transportation after they had boarded the chariot.
As she placed turned to close the back of the chariot and tell the driver that they were done renting it, a paper flew out. Lucy grabbed it, and slapped her forehead.
"I need to find Gajeel now." She whispered under her breath.
She turned to leave, spotted Natsu coming out of the bathroom and yelled at him to pay the driver.
The hallways in Gray's mansion were really long. And to top it all, a complete maze to a newcomer like Lucy. She was beginning to think that she'd never reach the person she was looking for, much less actually find an exit.
"Damn it." She cursed under her breath.
Lucy didn't like being in a situation she could figure out. Look at this corner. With the weird pot in form of a woman. She was sure she'd passed here before. But then again, this window hadn't had a black frame before, and the carpet wasn't the same.
And it felt like she wasn't in Gray's mansion anymore. After all, maybe somewhere she took a wrong turn and ended up in a secret passageway that connected his mansion and the neighboring one? Lucy shook her head. She read too much books.
"Blondie?"
Lucy snapped out of her thoughts.
There he was, standing before her. Now what? She knew he was a renown Thief and all, but still her request was a bit…too small for him? Lucy took her courage in both hands and asked Gajeel:
"I need you to do a job for me."
At this, he smirked. Well, Gajeel always liked to do jobs. He really enjoyed seeing the faces of the people after they would see the counterfeit documents. And he hadn't done a job in a long time. He was up for this.
Lucy continued.
"Natsu signed us both for a Tournament involving sword fight, when I barely have any experience with said weapon. Could you please remove my name from the submitted paper?" She asked.
She was really hoping he would say yes. And she was also scared out of her mind. The man had like 2 feet more than her, and his towering dark aura was very, very intimidating.
"Is it all?" He asked.
She couldn't help but notice that his smirk had faltered a little. However, she didn't think this would be too hard for him. After all, wasn't he the renown Gajeel?
"Y-yeah…."
"It'll be done by tomorrow. So don't fret Blondie." He gave her a short nod, before putting his hands back in his pockets and walking off.
"WAIT! Can you get me back to the normal part of the house?" She ran after him.
He looked at her, having this sense of déjà vu.
"What's up with ya girls getting lost around here?"
Meanwhile
"Ah! Your Highness, I needed to talk with you." Levy caught up with Natsu.
He observed the petite woman briefly, before breaking into a grin.
"Levy!" He bear-hugged the Librarian who felt her face heat up.
She broke off his embrace, and the Thief suddenly popped in her mind. Hold on, why was she thinking about him? Cana's comment surfaced her. She turned multiple shades of crimson. Was she really falling for such a guy? True, all her life she'd been dreaming about her prince charming who would come sweep her off her feet and carry her away bridal style, but Gajeel was so far away from that mental picture.
Could it be that she had this bad ass side in her after all?
"Levy? Are you alright, your face is all red and weird."
Well, Natsu was no delicate prince either. And anyways, she saw him more as a brother. He was really goofy sometimes, she wondered what would happen if he did eventually get the throne…
"Yeah, I'm okay.. thank you Natsu."
He smiled widely.
"No problem! Oh by the way, do you want to participate in a Tournament with me and Lucy?"
Levy's mind went blank. Hold up. He was going to participate in a Tournament. Him as in the supposedly exiled Prince? And of all people with Lucy? What in the world was going on? As far as she knew, Lucy had no skill whatsoever with a sword and her hands were much too delicate to hold a heavy weapon. Plus, Natsu couldn't show in public at all.
"Come again?"
She turned around, but he seemed to have disappeared.
From afar, she could hear him yelling.
"I'LL GO SIGN YOU UP TOO!"
She paled. She couldn't even shoot an arrow. Her, a Librarian. Never having touched a single weapon, except a knife in her entire life. How was she going to participate without getting killed?
Only one thought came up to her.
She needed to find Gajeel.
And yet in another part of the Mansion
They sat across from each other, Jellal their new guardian to prevent them from murdering each other when Gajeel wasn't looking. He felt oh so very awkward. From his point of view, they didn't want to kill each other. It looked more like they wanted to kick him out and start sucking face heavily.
He was about to break the silence when Gray spoke up first, never leaving Juvia's eyes.
"You owe me."
On second thought, he was going to watch where the exchange between the two took them. Nothing was ever boring between these two newlyweds.
She looked at him incredulously.
"I-what?"
He crossed his legs and leaned back.
"You owe me. Once for the foot massage," Jellal raised an eyebrow, should he try that on Erza? "And twice, for covering up for us in front of Scarlet."
Juvia smiled. A true smile. She also crossed her legs and defied Gray with a stare.
"Oh? And how should I repay you? Would you like to have a second round at 'trying to get me pregnant'?" She air-quoted.
He chuckled.
"No, but that is indeed a suggestive offer. Instead I want you to start calling me Gray-sama."
~from Tales of Magnolia: Chapter 14
A/N: Pizza+ Another way to die song+ fan+ tumblr+ silence= this. Hope you guys liked it, though I published it later than I usually do.. Here, I felt like using Gajeel a lot, so he's like… the main character for this chapter I guess. Without forgetting Gray and Juvia and their kinkiness. Ah! I love those two… Anyways, what's up with the tournament? How will all of the participants deal with what Natsu did? How can he show up and not reveal his true identity? Find out in the next chapter!
PS: Thank you everyone! We've reached 100 reviews! *squeal*
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