Chapter 51! We made it this far! And an early update!
So I was originally hoping for 200 reviews by chapter 55, but thanks to AkaneLovesItachi I think we can get it this chapter! Thanks so much for all your reviews, AkaneLovesItachi! It means so much~
So, to fluff things up a bit, we're doing a mini arc that'll be like 2 or 3 chapters. Nothing to worry about. It'll be now, right before we step into the angst filled Tartaros. Everyone's gonna be sobbing- and I figured out a huge plot twist centered around Nicole I'm going to pull on y'all. I figured it out a while ago and spent 2 weeks trying to figure out how I could incorporate.
Because my character hasn't been tortured enough lately XD
REVIEWS~
AkaneLovesItachi: No Gruvia in this story- NiRay and Lyvia, actually :3
Marie Yoshina: Even if you wanted to know, I'd be super mean and *gasp* NOT TELL YOU (nothing personal, I promise you)
tjhorton30800: Thank you! I think they're my best stories too. Thanks so much for reviewing :3
DragonIceFeather: Juvia's a cute weirdo, that's for sure XD And I, in reality, actually don't mind dresses, but I never wear them XD
Storm Fullbuster: Thank you so so so much! :)
WolfyWolfWolf: Thank you! Thank you so much!
Previously:
"What's going on?!" Wendy shrieked. "They're all fighting!"
"That's LOVE!" Chelia said with a smile.
And with that the best brawl began.
"Pull out all of Makarov's hair!"
"Twirl!"
"I've got Gray's clothes!"
"PISS OFF, GAJEEL!"
"Lucy-san!"
"EEEEEEEEEEE!"
"That's my dress!"
"Stop destroying my Gray-sama!"
"Nobody's destroying me! Gajeel, give me my clothes!"
"Gihihi!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
"Outta the way!"
"ENOUGH!" A huge white knight appeared at the balcony. My foot was stomped on a Twilight Ogre guy's stomach, a hand was on his shoulder, and the other was about to nail him in the nose. "You stand in front of the king! He would like to make a speech!"
Slowly, everyone untangled themselves. Gray, as I noticed, did not find his clothes. We watched eagerly as the king strolled out from his balcony.
"Um..."
"MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Natsu cackled, decked out in the king's crown and robes. "BOW BEFORE YOUR KING!"
Everyone gaped, some in amusement, others in horror, at Natsu tromping around childishly on the balcony. "Oh, come on! We won the Grand Magic Games! Just lemme be king for a while!"
I was about to say something when Lucy beat me to it.
"You're going overboard again!"
Natsu simply grinned down at us cheekily.
I love Fairy Tail.
Chapter 51: Vacationing, Part 1
Normal POV
So the ride back to Magnolia was long- and horrible on Nicole and Natsu's stomachs. Erza sat at her sketch book, presumably designing a new set of armor for herself. Wendy was talking with Lucy, who was rubbing Natsu's back as he puked out the window. Gray sat in the back corner, next to Nicole, who was half asleep on Gray's lap, face turning revolting shades of green.
At on point Gray stood up abruptly and started yelling to stop the cart. "Why?" Erza had asked, but Gray mumbled "never mind," and preceded to sob into his hands.
Peering out the window, all Nicole saw was an old lady, standing in the sunlight.
Still feeling sick, she leaned the other way, giving Gray space, and then promptly vomited out the carriage door.
***:::~~~...
They arrived back at the guild to cheers, and soon, everything was back to normal... as normal as it would ever be. The guild's loud chatter was contagious. Huge jobs were coming their way, they were sure.
"Gimme my shirt!" Gray hollered one typical afternoon as he swung a fist at Natsu. Childish Natsu giggled and skipped out of the way.
Gray kicked Natsu in the face and snatched his shirt. Natsu sailed into Erza, who thwacked him on the head with her sword. "You DARE interrupt my cake eating?!"
Erza flipped a table and it fell on top of Elfman. "That's not MANLY!" he yelled, punching the already-broken table out of the way... and into Nicole.
"That HURT!" Nicole lashed out in a round house kick and knocked Elfman into Natsu, who spewed flames on Gray, who ran away from Erza, who was beating up Gajeel, who was grabbing at Cana. The place was in chaos.
"LISTEN UP, BRATS!" Master Makarov called loudly. As nobody could hear him over the sound of glass breaking and wood splintering, he grew into his giant form and stepped down, taking Gray, Elfman, and Natsu down in the process. "LISTEN UP BRATS!"
The guild quieted down and the giant lifted its foot, releasing Natsu, Elfman, and Gray. Elfman groaned about how it wasn't manly to step on someone, Natsu just shook himself off and stared up at Gramps, and Gray mumbled something incoherent and sat down in between Nicole and Erza.
"Brats!" Makarov called, shrinking back down to his normal four foot form. "Mirajane has a proposal for you."
As Mirajane walked out onto the balcony, Natsu grabbed his hair in a panic. "Proposal?! Does Mira want to marry the guild?"
Several people chuckled. "Yes, Natsu," Nicole answered sarcastically. "She wants to marry us all."
Natsu was about to make some smart-ass comment when Mira smiled down at everyone. "Hey guys!" she cheered. Everyone shouted friendly (and not so friendly) greetings back at Mira. "So we won a lot of money with the Grand Magic Games tournament, and we've worked extra hard, so Master Makarov has agreed to let the guild go on a friendly vacation to the beaches!"
Cheers went up through the guild hall and Nicole gulped. "Does this mean I have to wear a bikini?"
Lucy punched her playfully in the arm as Mira continued. "I've made all the preparations, along with Erza-" the red head stood up and joined Mira on the balcony- "including activities, parties, and... room mates."
Realization dawned on the entire guild hall. "Shit," Nicole grumbled.
Bursting into chatter, the guild began turning towards people, wondering who room mates would be. Makarov stomped his foot and everyone shut up again. "Thank you, Master," Erza said. "Now, if any damage should come to the wonderful hotel by the beach that we are staying at..." her eyes grew deadly red. "There will be CONSEQUENCES."
"YES, ERZA!" Fifty people shouted in unison. Erza smiled pleasantly.
"Very good." Mirajane opened her arms. "We've prepared clothing, rides, everything. The carriage is waiting! Let's go!"
"Wait, now?!" squawked Lucy as she was pushed towards the exit along with the sea of people.
Erza appeared beside her. "We are quite spontaneous."
"No kidding," Nicole said, trekking towards the carriage. Her face paled. "There is no way I'm riding on that thing."
"Do you have other means of transportation?" Mira looked pointedly at the five dragon slayers.
Laxus paled and mumbled something incoherent and the white-haired bar maid smiled cheerfully and led him towards the carriage. Wendy smiled and said she didn't need to worry about it, and hopped onto the waiting carriage. Soon everyone was loaded up and ready to go. "Happy!" Natsu cheered. "Let's fly!"
"Aye, sir!" Happy and Natsu took off, followed by Gajeel and Pantherlily. Nicole blinked.
"Come on, Nicole," Gray urged. "You'll be fine."
The stubborn Dragon Slayer shrugged. "I'll run along side."
"Can you keep up?"
"Watch me."
Several guild members sweat dropped as Nicole smiled evilly.
***:::~~~...
Nicole didn't exactly... run, per say, beside the carriage. You could say she slid.
It wasn't far, maybe a 10 minute ride, but Nicole created a long, thing stretch of ice beside the road. "See ya!" She called as she stepped foot on the ice and skated away.
Laxus sighed. "The one Dragon Slayer who doesn't have an exceed is always the stubborn one."
And so they went.
Nicole seemed to get tired with a minute left, but she held on. She skated quickly at first, then slowed to the pace of the carriage. Gray swung his head out the window, crossing his arms, and watched the brunette slide along peacefully. "Ice Make ramp!" The ramp came up from under Nicole, slanting backwards, and out of surprise caused her to slide the opposite way. Away from their desination.
"FULLBUSTER!"
"...Gray," Wakaba whispered, "do you have a death wish?"
Nicole seemed to move twice as fast, using Gray's idea of making a ramp under herself that gave her momentum to move forward. She ended up catching up to the carriage... and then passing it. All while shouting bloody murder at Gray, who ducked back in the carriage and tried to hide.
"Every man for themselves!" Upon hearing Nab's startled cry, Macao threw Gray out the window as to not be under the war path of Nicole. Gray yelped as he landed on the dirt road and the carriage zipped on. Natsu, from above, cackled and taunted his rival as he flew ahead.
"Ice Make Floor!" Gray tried the same tactic and began sliding after the scary Fairy Tail mage, who was sliding backwards and glaring at him. Gray grinned coyly. Nicole huffed and spun around again, skating that last fifty feet to the large hotel building. Gray skidded to a stop next to her, smiling sheepishly.
Nicole glared at Gray. "Just make my life all the more difficult, why don't you."
On the good side, the hotel was beautiful. It has plain marble walls with gold trim and balconies at every room. There were revolving doors at the start and apparently there was a pool or hot tub inside.
Everyone slowly exited the vehicle and the exceeds descended, dropping their Dragon Slayer partners. "Alright!" Mira squealed. "Now that we've all made it here in one piece-" Nicole glared pointedly at Gray- "Everyone take the envelope with their name on it. It's got a key to your room inside."
Swiftly, Levy plucked her envelope that had her name scrawled over it and ducked into the hotel. Lucy followed, then Nicole, and then everyone stormed into the hotel. The poor clerk at the front desk literally ducked as the Fairy Tail wizards stormed inside. Nicole tore open her envelope and picked up a old bronze key with the numbers '619' on it. Shrugging, the mage hopped into the elevator with Levy, Lucy, Bisca, Romeo, Wendy, Macao, and Elfman. Everyone has ripped open their respective envelopes and began pressing the first number of the three number combination into the key pad. Before the doors closed, Nicole spotted Erza dragging Natsu and Gray into another elevator.
At the second floor Macao hopped off.
At the fourth floor Romeo and Wendy jumped out. They both glanced at each other before comparing keys. "We're in the same room!" they heard Wendy gasp before the doors shut completely.
Lucy smirked and Levy smiled sweetly. Bisca hopped off at the fifth floor, and Levy, Lucy, and Nicole all got off on the sixth. Waving good bye the Elfman, who continued upwards, the girls realized what their room number's were.
"Maybe I'm with one of you guys!" Levy squealed. "I'm room 618."
Nicole shook her head. "619." They both turned to Lucy, who sighed dejectedly.
"620. At least we're all side by side!" The three girls nodded and all headed off down a hallway, where there was the distant sound of doors opening and closing.
Nicole found her room, indeed next to Levy and Lucy, and popped the key into the lock. Twisting, the door clicked open. She thrust open the door.
Her room mate was sitting on the single bed in the room.
Nicole blinked. "Gray?"
Gray blushed. "Nicole."
They both stared for a minute before Nicole closed the door behind her and surveyed the room. The balcony door was straight across from her. There was a TV and one large bed, a bathroom to her right, and a microwave and ironing board to her left. She blinked again before they made eye contact, blushing.
"You can have the bed."
They both spoke at the same time, before blushing furiously. "No, you can."
"No, you can!"
They were about to continue arguing when the phone on the nightstand next to the bed buzzed to life, replaying a message. "Hello!" came Mira's cheerful voice. "Now, everybody is in their rooms."
"Yes," Erza's voice said. "I made sure of it."
"Don't try to pick up the phone," Mira continued. "The message is going out to all Fairy Tail members! Okay, so you may have noticed there's only one bed. That's because you have to SHARE it!~"
Nicole and Gray could hear a scream that sounded an awful lot like Gajeel. Nicole turned as red as a tomato. "That's ridiculous," Gray stammered, "I'll just sleep on the floor-"
"And if you don't," Erza threatened, "we come during the night and I am granted full permission to unleash my torture devices on you!"
Gray blinked. "Uh oh."
The Ice Dragon Slayer turned and marched into the bathroom to avoid Gray seeing her beat red face. But she still listened in to the message.
"Party tonight in about half an hour," Mira squealed. "Guys and girls, the drawers are packed with stuff for you! Ciao for now!"
Nicole took a long breath.
Then screamed at the top of her lungs.
The phone message shut off. Nicole marched out of the bathroom and crossed her arms like nothing had happened. "Typical Mira matchmaking scheme."
"Yeah, well," Gray mumbled, raking a hand through his hair, "what can we do?"
"I bet Levy's with Gajeel," Nicole said with a smirk. "And Natsu with Lucy."
"He'll enjoy that," Gray snickered.
The two lapsed in silence as Nicole pulled open a drawer with her name on it and began rummaging through it. She found a bag with the label 'party dress' on it and tugged it out. "After this I'm going to MURDER them," she grumbled. Nicole turned back towards Gray, who was now shirtless. "I'm going to be blunt here and say this is going to be extremely awkward," she started, "and I don't want it to be like that, so we're going to have to deal."
Gray grinned. "Fine by me." He snatched a parcel with 'party suit' scrawled on it. "Let's get changed."
Nicole ducked into the bathroom. "No peeking, pervert!" she called out over her shoulder.
"Hey!" Gray complained. "What do you think I am?"
However Nicole didn't answer as she locked the door behind her.
Opening the bag, Nicole paled. It was a hot pink dress, a nice colour that Nicole hated, but strapless and stopped mid thigh. She cursed multiple times. It was horrendous.
"Nicole? You okay in there?"
"Yep!" Nicole called back. "Just trying to plot how to murder Mira and Erza. I have to go visit Lucy. Be right back." Before he could object Nicole had put the dress back in the bag and slammed the door behind her.
Knocking on Lucy's door, the blonde came to the door and beamed at Nicole. "A friendly face! Hi!"
"Yeah, I guess I can say the same." She peered behind Lucy and giggled. "You're with Natsu?"
Lucy blushed beet red. "Y-Yeah. Your's is Gray?"
Nicole nodded and Lucy giggled. "Well, no surprise there!"
"Lucy," Nicole said, "The dress they gave me is horrible and I was wondering if there's anything you could do about it."
Lucy blinked. Nicole stepped inside the door way and heard Natsu scream something before she held up the short dress. Lucy covered her mouth. "That's so cute!"
"Can we trade?" The Ice mage begged. The Celestial mage giggled and pulled out her own bag. It was again a strapless dress, but light blue and covered in stars.
Nicole gaped at the dress. "No, don't trade. That would look awesome on you."
Lucy smiled softly at Nicole's selflessness. "Lucky for you I've got a few devices I sneaked in along the way." She pulled out one device with a button and dial, and pair of scissors, and a needle and thread.
Nicole blinked at the things and gratefully smiled at Lucy. "Thank you SO much."
"No problem!" Lucy bade Nicole good bye as the Dragon Slayer marched back into her room. Swinging the door open, Nicole spotted Gray, who was cruising through TV channels, all while wearing a black suit with a... pink tie.
There seems to be a matching theme for the last few days.
Nicole blushed beet red again as Gray turned to face her. "Where'd you go?"
"To get some stuff." Nicole extended her palm and showed the materials to her partner. He glanced at them quizzically and Nicole sighed and held up the dress.
Pause.
Then Gray burst out laughing, clutching his stomach and rolling on the bed. Nicole glared hard at him before pounding him with her fists. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!"
"Oh my god," Gray snickered. "I can see why you got stuff."
She blushed and held up the magic device with the dial on it. "Laugh all you want. What colour should I make this?" When Gray looked confused she waved it in front of his face. "This changes the colour of a clothing article. I got one and broke it soon after."
Of course you did, Gray thought. "Um, try forest green."
Nicole tried it and it looked much better than before. Ducking into the bathroom and slipping it on, she emerged again and blushed furiously at the ground. "I still hate the strapless stuff."
Gray held up the scissors. "That why she gave you these."
Nicole, understanding, rummaged through her bag and found a long sun dress. Using the scissors she carefully snipped off a bit from the bottom, so it all looked even, just a bit shorter. She took the strips, and using the needle and thread, stitched them on the strapless mini dress, Gray sewing it up in the back. Changing the colour so it matched the dress, Nicole twirled in the mirror. "Much better with straps."
"Looks fine too," Gray added. Nicole blushed slightly and then turned the colour changing device on Gray.
He shrunk back a bit. "How'd you look in a hot pink suit?" Nicole crowed mischievously.
"No way!" Gray snatched at the device, Nicole tried to snatch it back, and it flew across the room onto the bed.
They both glanced at each other for a second before yelling, "MINE" and lunging across the room and reaching for the device. Gray grabbed it first, but Nicole tasered him in the ribs and he yelped and let go. Fighting fire with fire, Gray pinned down Nicole's arms and grabbed the device back. "No pink for you."
She rolled her eyes, smiling. "Fine." She gently pried it away. "But one thing." She aimed at Gray's tie and it turned forest green. "They wanted us to match, and I can tell you hated the pink."
He grinned his arrogant, snarky grin. "Great."
Nicole combed out her hair with a brush the match makers had packed and she was about to sling it up when Gray knocked her hands away. "Leave it down and she won't give you as much heck and you would with the hair up and the defiling of the dress."
Said Dragon Slayer nodded at this and let her hair fall to her shoulders. Feeling self-conscious, she wrapped her arms tightly around herself. "Uh, we should..."
"Be going," Gray finished. "Okay, let's go." He held open the door and Nicole dramatically stepped out.
The pair took two steps when Natsu and Lucy's door opened at the two of them emerged. Lucy was in the blue dress, with her hair in its signature side ponytail, and Nicole was right- it did look beautiful on her. Natsu was what surprised Nicole- he was wearing a suit with a light blue tie. He looked... grown up, for once.
Yet his brain still proved to be immature when he pointed at Gray and cackled. "You look ridiculous, Ice Princess!"
Gray's eyes flashed white. "You look even stupider than me!"
As the two continued to bicker, Nicole and Lucy made their way to the elevators. "The dress looks great," Lucy complimented.
"Thanks!" Nicole beamed. "Mira and Erza will give me heck for it though. Later I'll return your stuff."
"Thanks," Lucy said quickly. "Mira and Erza are going through a lot here, huh?"
"I bet they're having fun." The two girls giggled and shut themselves in an elevator before the boys could reach them.
This party was going to be awkward and fun- typical Fairy Tail style.
Suggestions? Yes? No?
