Chapter 35
"At all?!" I say in complete shock and annoyance, "Natsu, I thought you under-"
"Yeah, yeah," He interrupts gruffly and glances away, "I know, I'm a selfish idiot and I know you're gonna see him anyways."
"I'm sorry for shouting at you yesterday," He completely avoids eye contact and shows discomfort, "It wasn't right. I was just mad."
"But I'm not sorry for how I feel about the situation," He suddenly looks at me directly, "I still think Sting's a bastard and that ain't gonna change, yes I can say that because I'm one too."
"Natsu..." I don't really know what to say.
"Just don't see him on your own, please," He softens a little at the end, "And tell Loke to stay out of this."
"I'm sorry for yesterday as well..." I say guiltily, "I just thought it was unfair to mention Lisanna."
He sighs as he scratches his head, "Maybe it was..."
Suddenly, the door opens.
"Ah Lucy, Natsu." Erza says with a grating tone, "I've been looking for you."
"Yo...what's up Erza..." Natsu attempts to lighten the suddenly tense mood.
She shuts the door, behind her.
"Lucy," She looks to me,
"You are being demoted."
I freeze; standing in shock and not believing my ears.
"What?!" Natsu roars.
"Natsu!" She shouts, "I don't want to hear it. Its final. I warned Lucy about this."
"Erza..." I say with upset.
"I'm sorry Lucy, but after yesterday, I must." She closes her eyes, "I told you I do not tolerate this kind of behaviour. I let you off once already."
"So you saw..." I say quietly with shame.
"I saw briefly and I've been overhearing things around the office." She says with a displeased look.
"But Erza!" Natsu protests, "You can't kick off Luce! It was my fault too anyway!"
"You both are clearly not capable of working together." She says harshly to both of us.
"Ever since Lucy joined the Elites I've had more problems with you Natsu." She admits with difficulty.
"Erza, please!" Natsu begs at her, "It was all my fault -"
"Natsu.." I interrupt with demoralisation and shake my head.
"Luce..." He softens, "Aren't you gonna fight for it?"
I go silent.
"I emailed you the new work to be done." She tells me.
"I also don't want to be seeing you two together around Fairy Tail, understood?" She says finally, "That is all."
She begins leaving.
"What!" Natsu gapes.
"Lucy, I'm so so sorry." Natsu rushes to me and grabs my hands with a weak look, "Lucy."
"It's okay..." I say blankly, "I just -"
Unsure how to feel.
"Dam it!" He curses, "She shouldn't have demoted you."
"She did warn me before..." I sigh helplessly as I head for the door.
It still hasn't sunk in.
I start aimlessly walking around, without paying attention to where I'm heading.
"Lu-chan!" Levy stops me as she touches my shoulder with concern, "What's wrong?"
I look up at her, "I got..."
I take a small sigh, "Demoted."
"No, that can't be!" She gasps in total disbelief, "Why?"
"Because of the fight with Natsu yesterday..." I sigh.
"Oh no, I'm sorry to hear." She hugs me sympathetically.
"It's alright;" I smile half-heartedly, "For some reason, a load of pressure has been taken off."
"Well being an Elite is stressful. You do twice as much work as the rest of us." Levy claims as she gestures.
"So its good right?" I ask hopefully, "I mean...Less pressure.." I try and convince myself.
"Yeah, you can relax a little now. At least you weren't fired." She tries to comfort.
"Shall we go hang out after work?" She asks, "Or do you still want to see Sting?"
"Oh yeah," I remember, "Let's go and see him. Natsu was alright with it, sort of." I try to explain.
"Sort of?" She raises an eyebrow.
"He just doesn't want me to go alone and wants Loke to stay out of the situation." I summarise.
"Loke?" She questions.
"Well, you know when he stepped in when we were arguing." I remind.
"He was doing the right thing to stop you two, though." She nods.
"Yeah...Natsu doesn't seem to like him..." I say awkwardly.
"He doesn't like anyone who gets withing a 5 metre radius." She laughs and links my arm, "Let's go eat lunch."
"Hah, I guess so," I laugh a little, "I'm not too hungry though..."
"Come on, Lu-chan," She drags, "You should still eat. It might get your mind of things!"
I sigh in defeat, "If you insist."
"We can even get your favourite chocolate fudge cake." She tempts with a knowing smile.
"Fine." I giggle.
"Lu-chan." Levy starts.
"Yeash-?" I look up at her whilst taking a bite.
"I thought you said you weren't hungry." She smiles and watches me eat my cake.
"Well," I clear my throat, "I guess I am."
"Yep." She laughs.
I glance out the window and watch the people walk by.
And then I see. I see him.
My eyes widen, "Levy!" I stand up suddenly as I slam my hands down on the table.
"What is it Lu-chan?" She gasps as my eyes remained glued on him walking by.
"It's him-!" I say and start rushing out to try and catch up with him.
When I get outside, so many more people seem to have appeared. I scan around and as soon as I spot him I start mazing my way through people walking.
I even do a small run.
"Sting!" I call; reaching my hand out and grabbing his sleeve just before he crosses the traffic lights.
I take a few small breaths and he turns around in startle, "Blondie-!"
He stares at me in shock for a moment before his expression fades into a more neutral one. He moves his arm slightly, out of my grasp.
"Sting," I start; not even knowing where to start, "I -"
His face turns blank and he starts walking across the road.
I feel a twang in my heart.
"Wait-!" I call again and follow him; across the road. But he doesn't turn around or even answer me. He just keeps walking.
"Sting!" I say with annoyance as I follow him, "What's going on? Why are you - Hey!"
I grab onto his arm again in an attempt to stop him. This time he halts and swiftly moves his arm our of my grip; before turning around with a harsh aura,
"Don't."
He stares at me closely, intensely and I freeze; taken back by his tone, his expression, his - just him.
And then I watch as he walks away...
A/N - Ouch, Sting. That was cold wasn't it? did you guys expect that? Also Lucy got demoted Dx
Anyway, again sorry for taking legit forver =.=" But thanks for being patient ;D
I hope you enjoyed
Just letting you guys know, this story MIGHT end soon. It depends, I guess until I just run out of steam? xD
Thanks for all the support as usual, omg almost 400 I can't even T_T
Mwaaaa, Lav you guys