Fairy Tail - Fanfiction: Chapter 36; "Forgiveness"

"That's it!" Lucy tackled a laughing Cana to the ground, grabbing the note and tossing it aside quickly. It landed on her desk.

Someone laughed really loud behind Lucy. "Sounds like someone has a boyfriend who's a little p-"

"LUCY KICK!" The laughing that was echoing through the room stopped suddenly.

Good, the girl thought triumphantly. However, she soon realized that everyone wasn't staring at her. They were looking past her, toward the person standing in the doorway. He had an unreadable expression.

Lucy spun around to see Laxus standing in the doorway, staring at her. His gaze went to the person who was now on the floor with a bleeding nose.

"L-Laxus!" Lucy stammered.

"I come in my classroom and find the class laughing their rear ends off, two students on the floor, and a girl bright red." Laxus narrowed his eyes at Lucy. "What's going on?"

"Lucy had a note on her back from her lover-boy!" Cana answered, still on the floor and partly laughing.

Laxus looked over to the other person on the floor. "What about them?"

"They were telling Lucy that her boyfriend was protective of her," Cana answered again, sneering at Lucy.

"Yeah... So what if he is..." Lucy looked at the floor.

"Seriously? He is too protective of you!" Cana argued.

"Well after everything that's happened, I'm not surprised!" Lucy shouted back, silencing everyone in the room. "He's protective of me because he doesn't want to lose me again!"

No one seemed to breathe. No one moved. All they did was stare and blink at Lucy. Even Laxus was stunned and didn't speak.

After a long, long moment, Laxus finally broke the silence. "So what was the note about?"

Lucy picked up the note slowly, shoving it toward the teacher's chest; a few inches from it. Her arms were stiff and her eyes were covered by her golden hair. Just get this note thing over with.

Laxus grabbed it and held it up to his face, beginning to read it silently. A few kids' faces cracked and they began to chuckle and laugh quietly. They instantly got an electric surprise.

"Quiet while I'm readin'," Laxus ordered, glaring at them. "Anyone else want to make fun of the poor blond girl? . . . No? Very sensible, then."

He turned to Lucy again, crumpling the note in his palm and tossing it over his shoulder into the trash can. "Lucy, you may head to the office if you want..."

"No," she said softly. "No, thank you. I've missed so much while I was recovering from the recent troubles Natsu and I have been through." She put slight emphasis on the last few words, targeting a glare at Cana. Lucy turned back to Laxus and, in a much nicer tone, said, "I want to stay in class and make up whatever I was absent for, please."

Laxus stared for a minute, narrowing his eyes. Then he nodded and sat at his desk, pulling papers out of a large briefcase and placing them on the desk. He cleared his throat. "Now, that aside," he began. "Let's begin with class today, not spend all our time making up jokes about another fellow student."

Lucy sat down near the entrance, on the other side of the room as Cana. She got her pencil and paper out as Laxus began speaking. He was one of those teachers who liked to have the students write their own notes down.

"The meaning of discipline," Laxus lectured. "What is it?"

"It's to prove something to someone else," one girl said as she was called on.

"Maybe it's to make someone do what you want them to do. They will eventually learn what to do and what not to do, right?" a boy tried.

"Yes. You are both correct," Laxus replied. "Can you, as a class, think of a good punishment for each other? Choose a few of your classmates; no more than five for each person. Ask yourselves, 'what would be an effective punishment for them?', and write it down in detail. It must be school appropriate, and I don't want too much detail in this assignment. It is homework, whatever you don't do in class." He sat back down. "You have the whole class period. Work."

The kids are gonna' have a nasty surprise in store for them if they decide to bring up the incident with Lucy and her boyfriend, Laxus thought. I'm assigning them the project so that I can see what goes on in those teenage minds of theirs; you never know what's happenin' in 'em. If it is too disturbing, I'll let the principal know. She can do whatever with them afterwards.

"Lucy."

She flinched as Laxus called her over to his desk after the bell rang. She knew what this was about.

"Yes, sir?" she asked as politely as she could, hoping that her teacher was in a good mood. Not likely.

"I know it's not any of my business knowing about your personal life, and I respect that. After all, what you do outside of my classroom is beyond me. But it is my business when someone goes and brings it in here."

Lucy nodded slowly. "Yes, sir. I understand. But I wasn't trying to-"

"Let's keep this simple," Laxus said. "Make sure that nothing is on your back when you walk in, got it? And if you have a problem with someone, let me know. Do not fight kids in my classroom unless I say so. Do you understand, Lucy?"

"I understand, Laxus."

"Then you may go," he finished, but hesitated before continuing and watched her go toward the door again. "Did you finish your homework assignment?"

She stopped and looked back. "Y-yes."

Laxus nodded. "Good. It isn't for a grade, just so you know. And I wasn't doing it just for you, ya' know."

"Y-you weren't?" Lucy asked, surprised.

"No."

"Then why?" she asked after a minute of silence.

He grinned. "That's my business."

Lucy smiled and nodded. "I see. Bye, Laxus. See you tomorrow!"

Lucy was walking down the hall after the class with Guildarts. Suddenly, she heard a familiar voice.

"Lucy!"

She continued walking. She didn't really want to see him right now.

"Lucy!" This time it sounded urgent. She came to a slow stop.

The pink-haired boy came running up to her, a worried expression on his face. "Hey," he began softly. "I heard what happened. I'm so sorry."

Lucy didn't reply. She couldn't bring herself to look at him, either. She studied the floor.

"Luce," Natsu continued. "Please; I didn't think something like that would happen! I wasn't trying to-"

"To what? Embarrass me?" The words came out heavily. Though she was doing her best to stay calm, Lucy couldn't stop more words from blurting out like those ones did. "What did you think would happen when you put something on someone's back? Cana started making fun of me, saying that you're too protective of me... I had to defend you by saying that after everything that's happened, I'm glad you are. I almost got in trouble with Laxus!" She stopped and took a long, frustrated breath.

"Luce... I really am sorry. I didn't think," Natsu said, his worried expression still present.

"No, you didn't," Lucy replied angrily, throwing herself at the boy and hugging him. "Never do that again."

At first, Natsu was surprised that Lucy wasn't nailing him with insults. After a few seconds, his eyes closed and he wrapped his arms around his girlfriend. "I won't. I promise, Lucy."

"Good," she said, pulling away. "Then let's get to Mira's class!"