Laxus was rubbing his face when Lucy brought him an ice pack. He took it from her and pressed it on his head. The blonde fidgeted in front of him, to be fair she always woke up like this and what brought her to kick him was the fact that she was naked and in bed laying on top of him, so she only thought of the worse. But she didn't imagine he would take it this bad.
After she kicked him, she demanded to know what happened, and he filled her in after he finished his rant about bunnies and carrots. Then he gave her one of his black shirts and he got dressed in some pants and a shirt then sat sulking on his bed. And when she asked if she hurt him, he quickly snapped and said no. Now she was left wondering what she did wrong and how can she make up for what she did. She remembered everything she put him through and she felt ashamed by it, he helped her out all the time and she rewarded him with a good morning kick.
Laxus was sulking at the moment and he knew it, he was furious and knows why. A petite woman like Lucy literally threw him to another wall. All the muscles, the training, the workout did nothing against her infamous 'Lucy kick.' He was being a brat and he was okay with it, his ego was hurt so he had a good excuse for being one.
Lucy stood there while Laxus was still pressing the ice on his head. She moved slowly towards him and tapped him on the shoulder. He looked at her with hard eyes and it immediately made her shiver. Those eyes did something to ignite her on fire and she liked the feeling but the timing was way off. She blushed as he looked at her and she couldn't help but feel small in front of him.
She bowed deeply and apologized for the man, who sat stunned by her actions. Because for one, he should be the one apologizing because he was being a whiny baby, for two because by her position he got a good view of her cleavage.
When she got up, he quickly missed the view. He stood up before her, and if Lucy was feeling small from looking in his eyes, now she wished there was something she could crawl under. She hung out with him before, but this was the first time she felt self-conscious of the difference between the two of them. Laxus saw something flash in her eyes and then he saw the pink tint on her face, and he decided to mess with her, as a payback for the hell he went through because of her and the kick this morning.
"Do you know the hell I went through yesterday?" he crossed his arms in front of him while narrowing his eyes at her and Lucy gulped. Oh she remembered alright. The hair pulling, carrot throwing, and a vague memory of a cookie fight. She could only nod at his questions.
"And now I wake up and get a kick to my face as thanks?" he questioned her.
His eyes were doing wonders to her body and she needed to keep her dirty little mind in check if she wanted to get out of this alive.
"I'm sorry?" she squeaked.
He looked thoughtful at her for a moment and rubbed his chin "Hmm, sorry doesn't really cut it Bunny."
"Don't call me that." She snapped at him.
He smirked, a dangerous smirk worked its way on his face and Lucy found herself backing up till she hit a wall. He got close to her till he was right beside her ear, and trapped her with his arms.
"And why not? Weren't you technically a bunny just a couple of hours ago?" he asked, his voice deep and husky. Lucy shuddered under him, her body reactions were out of her control and her mind was not helping her at all.
"Yes I was."
"Then I have the right to call you that." Lucy decided not to argue with him because her mind was not forming fathomable words to say. His masculine scent, his hard muscles, his hot breath on her neck was driving her crazy and for all that is holy his length was pressing on her inner thigh.
He backed away from her and she immediately missed his warmth. "Well I guess I could eat, are you craving anything?" he said as he walked past her into his kitchen.
Lucy stood there stunned, her heart beating a thousand per minute. 'What the fuck was that just now?' she needed to remind herself to breathe before she passed out. She could live without another incident like the one this morning. And now, she could not believe how he just played her and left.
"Are you coming or not Bunny?" his voice rumbled from the kitchen, and Mavis knows she hates that nickname more than anything in life.
She met up with him in the kitchen, he had already prepared breakfast for them. She looked out the window and saw that it was pouring rain outside, she pouted as she thought that she wouldn't be able to go home in this weather. Until she thought of using Corvus to shadow jump her to her apartment that was till she remembered that her keys are not with her. Where are her keys anyway?
She looked back at Laxus who was eating his food like all is perfect in the world, and just a few minutes ago he was whining and sulking.
"Are you not going to eat?" he asked her as he eyed her from top to bottom. It wasn't until this day that Lucy found out that Laxus can be dangerous to be around. She quietly sat on her chair and ate her food.
"Um Laxus where are my keys?"
He looked up at her from his plate and answered her "Blueberry took them home last night."
She looked at him quizzically "Blueberry?"
Until it clicked in, and she burst out laughing, she looks at him and sees the mirth in his eyes "That is fucking genius, I am going to start calling him that from now on."
They continued eating and once they were done Lucy volunteered to do the dishes but Laxus didn't accept and told her to pick a movie for them to watch.
"Hey Laxus, what type do you fancy watching?"
He came behind her and held out a movie disk "This one is perfect."
"Oh really? What's its name and what's it about?"
"Its name is 'It' and it's about carnivals and candy and clowns."
She looked at him flabbergasted "Clowns, candy and carnivals? Laxus do you have a fever?"
He looked at her innocently "Whatever do you mean Blondie?"
His eyes screamed danger and Lucy knew it, but she decided to test her waters, a decision she will soon regret.
"Um, I don't know but it sounds kind of childish."
He smirked at her "Well if it is as childish as you deem, I dare you to watch it with me."
She mirrored his smirk with one of own "Bring it." It was just a children's movie, so it was no big deal.
He grinned "Whatever you say Blondie, but just so you know my arms are open if you wanted to seek comfort." He then went to prepare some popcorn.
Whatever the hell did he mean? It's just a kids movie, maybe there are some touching moments in it? That's why he gave her that offer? Well whatever the reason is, Lucy will not give in to his offer, she was sure she was not going to need it anyway.
XXX
She was dead ass wrong.
The movie was not about candy and carnival and clowns, well it was about a clown, but a clown that eats people, a clown that has a mouth that can open to the size of a door, and right now she was having second thoughts about his offer.
She looked at him from the corner of her eye, and he seemed as if he was watching a movie about two best friends retelling their story, and not a movie of a flesh-eating clown that is going around and terrorizing people.
She took a deep breath and let it out, she could do this, for she was not a little girl anymore. Lucy could handle this.
…
…
"Are you enjoying sitting on my lap Blondie?"
"Shut up you are the one who decided to watch this movie." She shot his a glare that he didn't notice because he was busy laughing.
"Blondie I am pretty sure it was you that called the movie childish." She sneaked a glance at him and immediately regretted it, the bastard was smirking with one of his eyebrows raised. He was looking at her with amusement flashing is his eyes.
"You are a sneaky bastard Laxus Dreyar. Tricking a girl to watch a horror movie so you could have her in your lap? Kind of a desperate move don't you think?" the mischief in her eyes lit a fire in his. His eyes bore into her soul as he continued smirking "Well Lucy Heartfilia" her breath hitched at the way he said her name, which he noticed "I do believe that the girl is the one who jumped on my lap, and I do remember you tricking yourself into this."
Time stilled as they both stared into each others eyes, until a scream from the lead girl brought them back from their reverie, and they both continued to watch the movie, with Lucy on Laxus' lap with his arms encircling her protectively. Occasionally, she would hide in his chest of some disgusting and horrifying scene.
The rain was still pouring hard, accompanied by lightning strikes, the sky raged on with its continuous rain and lightning. All that added beautifully to Laxus, this day was amazing to him, even though it began the wrong way, he found himself enjoying cornering the little bunny, and then tricking her into watching this movie, which he knew was horror, and now having her on his lap, in his arms was a huge win.
As the movie ended, he got up to turn off his lacrima-television. Lucy sat at the sofa thinking of ways to get back at him for what he did to her. Then a thought clicked in her head, and a devious smile appeared on the celestial mage's face. She looked to her corner and saw the vase of flowers, with the dirty water. She quietly took the flowers out of the vase and held on to it. She balanced herself on the sofa then when Laxus turned to see what the hell she was up to, she threw the water at his face and some even went in his eyes.
She looked at him innocently "Oops." with her hands clasped together.
He narrowed his eyes at her after he got the water out, his grin showing his sharp canines "Oops?"
She jumped off the couch and started running in the house, that dangerous glint she saw in his eyes, yelled at her to run, run like the little bunny she is. She chanced a glance behind her and she wish she hadn't, the hallway was dark except for two eyes that seemed to glow yellow, reminding her of Pennywise, heck Pennywise had nothing on Laxus like this, the feral grin on his face as he walked ever so slowly and the rumbling of lightning outside, she felt as if she was the prey for this dragon, and she didn't know how right she was with that thought.
She entered a room and shut the door behind her, she turned to lock it only to find that there wasn't any key. She looked around, the room was really vague except for a door leading to the outside, and she was faced with a hard choice, deal with a predator or get soaked? She obviously chose the latter, but she didn't know that she chose both, because as soon as she was out in the rain she looked back only to be pushed over by the very dragon she was running from.
She was panting hard, and looking at him, she saw he didn't even break a sweat in following her. The lightning cackled behind him and she saw how it's light shone on Laxus' face, it showed his glowing eyes, that up close seemed to dance with lightning swirling in them, the scar on his right eye seemed to look more rough than usual, and all Lucy wanted was trace her hand over it, but the heat in his eyes stopped her from looking everywhere but in them. Lucy swore she could have drown in them, in their glowing ethereal beauty, she didn't know that she was now cupping his face with one of her hands.
As for Laxus, as he looked at her, he thought he finally found what heaven was about, for she looked like an angel with her soaked hair splayed out on the grass, and her chess heaving from all the running, her brown eyes looking straight at him, and for a moment he saw her eyes drift to his scar but then her focus shifted to his eyes. Staring into her eyes and feeling her delicate hand on his cheek, he couldn't help himself.
He kissed her.
And she kissed back.
The kiss was everything he could have ever imagined and more. She tasted and smelled like strawberry and vanilla, and now with the rain falling on them like that, it turned the moment more intense, more beautiful than it already was. He picked her up, and while still kissing her got her back inside the house.
The moment he was inside his house, he pushed her to a wall and she jumped up and wrapped her legs around him. Lucy rationalized that they were moving too fast but the feel of his lips, his hard hands on her made her forget all logic and just let go, because it felt right.
When the need of air became important, they parted only for Laxus to continue his assault on her neck, and for her to struggle with removing his shirt. Getting the hint, he removed his shirt and let her hands roam on his chest, and Mavis did he love the feel of her touch. He continued kissing her neck and the moans that left her mouth was urging him to continue, and when she craned her neck giving her more access, he became the happiest man in the world.
He felt her up, and enjoyed how she shivered under his touch, he continued their kiss. When his hand reached her mound he gave it a little squeeze earning a gasp from the blonde, he took advantage of that and deepened their kiss, their tongues fought for dominance, with his easily overpowering hers. He could tell that she was not new to this, and he didn't know how to feel about that. He continued feeling her up, tracing his fingers down her arms, to her forearm, then her fingers where he grabbed her wrists and rubbed soothingly on the inside of them as he laid them on the wall on either side of her head.
All the while the blonde continued moaning inside his mouth, she was not new to this, but Mavis the boys she was with, hold nothing to this man here. As he kept trailing his fingers on her arm, he couldn't help but notice a strange thing. There was a small swell of her skin on her wrist, before he knew what he was doing, he stopped kissing her and looked at her wrist, and what he saw stopped him dead in his place.
Lucy, noticing he stopped, opened her eyes that were closed while she was kissing him, and looked at him. She saw his eyes fixed on something, so she followed his line of view, and her heart suddenly was in her throat. She tried pulling her hand but his grip became firmer on her wrist. She started panting, tears threatened to leak from the corner of her eyes, she didn't want him to find out, not like this. The dragon in front of her kept staring at the thin line on her wrist, his heart was beating frantically, his breathing was slow, and his eyes… showed so much emotions, Lucy couldn't keep up with them, but some were evident, like sadness, anger and … disappointment.
"Why?" his voice cracked, it was above a whisper and Lucy could barely hear him, but because she was close, she did and her heart shattered to a million pieces. His voice was raw with emotions, the tears that gathered at the corner of her eyes leaked down her face.
"Laxus please let go of me." She whispered to him, tugging her hand to let her go, but his grip only tightened to the point where it started to hurt her.
"Why?" he asked again, this time though, he looked at her and her tears flowed harder. His face screamed betrayal, and she didn't know how to respond to that question, for she herself didn't know the answer.
"I-I don't know…"
"You don't know?" he whispered "You don't know?!" this time he said it louder and punched the wall next to her, leaving a dent and cracks in it. Lucy flinched and shook from her sobs, she was terrified of many things, that he would tell her brothers, that he would tell the guild, but what terrified her more, was the look of disappointment in his eyes, the look of pure betrayal, and seeing this Lucy's heart clenched tight and with one final tug, she pushed the dragon slayer off of her and ran out of his house.
Running on the streets bear footed and in only a black shirt she took from Laxus' with her tears flowing freely, Lucy didn't mind. She just wanted to reach home where she can burry herself in her bed. She reached her apartment and opened it, then quickly shut the door behind her. She leaned on the door and was about to collapse when someone called out to her.
"Luce, what happened to you?"
She looked up and saw her former partner and best friend, she couldn't handle him at the moment so she covered her face with her bangs. A futile attempt in the presence of a dragon slayer.
"What do you want Natsu?" her voice was icy, and Natsu shivered at hearing it. He wanted to only apologize to his friend.
"I wanted to say I'm sorr-"
"Now is the not the time Natsu." She interrupted him as she got off the door and opened it "Leave."
He looked at her with wide eyes, she is sure upset about something but she doesn't want him to comfort her, like he always did whenever something bothered her. He felt as if she didn't need him anymore, not like before.
"But Luce-"
"Now is not the Fucking time Natsu. LEAVE!" she looked at him, and he saw it. The pain, regret, guilt, he saw those emotions swimming in her eyes and he reluctantly nodded and left. Lucy shut the door behind him and slid down it. She sobbed, cried, she could never be happy with someone. She most of all did not want Laxus to know what happened to her, but fate was cruel to her, for the minute she let her guard down, and let someone in, fate slapped her in the face.
A shimmer of light and a bell sound indicated the arrival of one of her spirits, and of course it was Loke. He held her in his arms, and took care of her weeping, drenched state.
"What happened Princess?" he asked her softly.
"He knows. Laxus knows." She said as her sobs intensified, he rocked her back and forth while rubbing her back. He furrowed his eyebrows "Knows what Princess?"
After a few sobs escaped her, she replied "About what I did the year th-the guild w-was disbanded."
His eyes grew wide at what she said, if that was the case, then he needed to speak with the lightning dragon slayer.
XXX
Laxus didn't know what to feel, the thought of the girl he has feelings for, trying to kill herself just paused him from thinking.
All he could do was look at where she was, with silent tears streaking down his face. He knew she suffered, and greatly, but to this extent. To the extent of choosing to end her life?! He felt the utmost betrayal and he didn't know why, his dragon roared in its cage, for it was feeling as if she was rejecting him, rejecting him from spending time with her by choosing to shorten her time on Earth Land.
Laxus didn't understand, at all why she would do what she did. And now, he maybe never will, for he acted about it the wrong way. He smelt her fear, and he only wishes that it was not directed at him, but he knew it was. He lost control of his dragon that it surfaced a bit. And he is pretty sure that her siblings don't know about what she did.
His dragon was taking this a lot personally, that he had a hard time figuring out why, and he figured it was time to have a training session with Gajeel again. Maybe the iron head will have some answers.
The next morning, Laxus got up and took a bath, all night long he couldn't sleep, the haunted look on Lucy's face kept him awake all night. He hurt her, badly. And he is regretting his actions a lot, he just couldn't control himself and snapped like he did, but that was no excuse.
Arriving at the guild, he saw that there are few people here, so he decided to head up to his office and wait for the iron head to come to the guild.
A couple hours passed by, and the guild was full, a lot of people were here, like Jellal and Cobra, Midnight and the Raijinshuu, and a lot more. The guild doors flew open and in walked a person they never thought they would see alone. The trio quickly rushed to his side to ask him about their little sister.
"Loke how is she doing? Did she turn back to normal?" the questions rushed out of the trio's mouths while Loke stood silent in front of them. Once they saw that he wasn't talking, they shut up and Jellal got close to Loke, worry evident in his eyes "Loke, how is Lu?"
The spirit just sighed "Meet at Laxus' office, I have a few things to tell you."
They quickly nodded not liking where this was going. Loke went to the Raijinshuu' table and once they saw him approach, they got alerted that something was wrong, for the cheerful blonde was not with him. He signaled to them with his head and they quickly got the hint and rushed to Laxus' office.
Once he entered the office, he met Laxus' gaze and immediately the slayer put his hands on his head. Freed worked on a spell to put a sound barrier around the room to prevent anyone outside this room from hearing them.
The spirit straightened his posture and prepared himself for it. He got the approval from Lucy to do so, because she couldn't face them while telling them, so he volunteered to go in her stead. The blonde saw that it was time to tell the people close to her the truth of what happened that year.
He looked at all of them and he didn't know how to start, even if he wasn't the one who did those stuff, it was still hard to talk about things like that, especially when it was still haunting him.
He cleared his throat before he started "When you all left, when the guild was disbanded, Lucy was left alone. The family she thought would never leave her abandoned her."
His gaze swept at their faces and he saw the mixture of pain and regret, but the more evident one was on Laxus'.
He continued "After breaking Aquarius' key, Lucy never summoned us, afraid that she would break a key if she only held it, and whenever I tried to open my gate, she would quickly force it closed." His voice started wavering "That was until that night." His eyes were downcast, his breathing turned rapid, he never wanted to live this nightmare again, but for her sake, he will continue to tell them the story.
"What night?" asked Cobra, already feeling that he won't like the answer to his question.
He looked at them "The night I found her laying in a pool of her own blood."
Gasps were heard all around the room, Evergreen already had tears flowing down her face, while the trio's face was unreadable, and Laxus looked like he was about to tear something off. Freed and Bickslow didn't want to go that way, maybe Lucy was out on a job and she got badly hurt. Yeah maybe that was what happened. Their hopes shattered as Loke continued
"That night, the most amazing woman I have ever met, my princess, my savior, the spirits light in the darkness, tried committing suicide."
The trio, were shocked, were angry, were heartbroken. They didn't know, that she was feeling like that, they all left her even though they knew who she was to them, they left her on her way, alone, even though she had someone who could lean on, they just never offered her the shoulder. How naïve could they be, when they knew the fact that she went in some problems, and some of it was caused by them, so how naïve could they be to think that she would be better off left alone.
"I quickly picked her up and took her to the spirit realm, where we healed her. Still, her look, will haunt me to the end of times." He said so while shaking slightly from the rage kept in him, he blamed himself for not being there sooner, for not seeing that she was not okay, even though she was closing his gate every time, he should have kept trying, not just sit around and give her space. Even when she tells him that it was not his fault, that it was all her fault she forget that she had a family as beautiful as hers was, he still didn't believe it. He was sure he was at fault.
The room was silent, the people in it were still trying to register what was being said to them. The trio were devastated, they keep disappointing her and she keeps forgiving them.
"Where is Lulu now?" Jellal croaked as he looked at the spirit.
"She's home sleeping. Please give her space for the day, and come see her tomorrow, and do not worry I will stay with her the whole day, like I did at night."
Laxus did not like that idea, and the growl that escaped him was a proof of that. The spirit glared at him "Oh sorry would you like to stay with her? Because I think you will be perfect for her now considering how you reacted last night when you found out." The spirit spat at him and Laxus returned the glare, but he didn't say anything, because Loke was right. Right now he won't be much help to her.
Midnight looked at him and asked "You knew?"
Laxus sighed as he rubbed his face with his hands "Just yesterday."
"How?" inquired Freed.
"I saw the scar on her wrist… and I asked her about it, not gently."
The horrified image on the blonde cutting herself and waiting for her blood to seep out of her filtered in their minds and they all shuddered at the thought. NO! Lucy is alive and that is what mattered. No matter what, the trio swore they would help her out.
"What do you mean not gently?" the glare Cobra shot him promised pain if he didn't chose his words carefully. Well he wouldn't need to do that because the lion spirit answered "By snapping and yelling at her, also punching the wall next to her and almost breaking her wrist. By the way lightning rod, her wrist is bruised up now, but she doesn't blame you, that girl is too forgiving for her own good." The last part he muttered to himself.
The Raijinshuu stared at Laxus in hurt and disappointment while the trio only glared, hatred, rage showed in their eyes and it was directed at the slayer sitting behind his desk.
Laxus clenched his fists, his knuckles turning white and he closed his eyes. He turned to them and opened them, they were the color of orange/yellow and streaks of lightning showed in them. With gritted teeth he told them "Well what the hell did you want me to do? I just found out the girl that I love tried killing herself damn it!"
Laxus, because he was angry, didn't realize what he just said, but the others heard him loud and clear, they had wide eyes for they noticed how his eyes changed, but Cobra understood what happened to him just now, his dragon was trying to take control. He sighed and hung his head in shame "I lost control of my dragon, and it just happened. I didn't mean it." At this the poison dragon slayer perked up "You felt betrayed." He concluded.
Laxus looked at him in bewilderment "How did you know?"
The poison dragon slayer heaved a sigh " She is your mate Laxus, and when you found out that she tried to…" he had a hard time saying it "He felt betrayed, he felt as if she preferred to be dead than to be with you. It was the same as I felt when my first mate rejected me."
After a very long time, Laxus understood what was happening to him. Lucy was his mate, that's why he felt inclined to protect her, to be always near her, to hear her laugh and see her smile. And now he might have messed up his shot at this for how he reacted, but Laxus wouldn't give up. He would try again and again until he got her back, because now that she became a big part of his life, he couldn't imagine what living without her could be. And to say he was surprised that Cobra had a mate before was an understatement, but he didn't press on it for it was clearly evident that Cobra did not want to talk about it.
After he was done, Loke walked out of the office and left to check on the blonde.
XXX
Lucy laid in bed, hugging her pillow close to her. The twins were sitting next to her happily chatting about some of their adventures in the spirit world, but she wasn't paying attention to them at all, she knew they were here to comfort her but to also keep an eye on her, she couldn't blame them though, she is known to make rash decisions.
"But then the spirit king was really mad." This got her interested.
"Yeah he then punished me and Mini, and we had to clean up the celestial storage."
"What for?" asked the blonde shyly.
The twins looked at her and smiled "Because we put a glitter bomb in his closet."
The blonde looked at them with wide eyes "You did?"
They nodded "We even got a picture of it, here look." They gave her a picture, and even though she was upset, even crying a few minutes ago, she couldn't help the giggle that escaped her, the look on the king's face with glitter all over it had her giggling uncontrollably.
"Gemi, Mini, if the king finds out that you told Lucy he is going to be mad."
They looked at the lion spirit who just walked in "But he isn't going to know is he?" Gemi asked and Mini continued "Because if you were wondering, Virgo is always up for some punishment."
Loke cursed under his breath, the threat was heard loud and clear, even though Virgo calls him big brother, he knows that her love for the twins is irreplaceable, and whatever they needed, she would do. So punishing him for ratting out the twins would be her pleasure.
The twins went back to their world and as soon as they did he heaved a heavy sigh "Those two will be the death of me." He said as he sat on her bed.
The blonde beside him giggled. He looked at her and smiled "How are you feeling today princess?"
Her smile faltered a bit "I'm fine now."
She looked at him and she didn't know how to form her question, she hated herself to put Loke in such a position, but she knew if she went to do that, she would back out of it.
Loke, sensing her discomfort, answered her unspoken question "They need time Princess, just like you do."
She nodded then looked at him "I'm so sorry Loke."
He looked at her confused "What for Princess?"
She took a deep breath "For always putting you in situations where you are not comfortable, for relying on you too much-"
"But Princess" he went to interrupt her but she held her hand up.
"I guess Loke, what I'm trying to say is sorry and thanks, thank you for always being here Loke. Mavis knows Loke I don't know what I'd do with my life if it weren't for you and the others."
Shock was written all over his face "This wasn't supposed to go this way." He whispered.
"What was?" Lucy didn't understand what he was talking about.
"I am the one who is supposed to be comforting you, not the other way."
The blonde just giggled at his outburst before she wrapped her hands around him and pulled him into a hug. The lion spirit melted in her hug and soon he wrapped his arms around her. After a while, he looked down and saw her sleeping, he smiled at her "Believe me Princess when I say on behalf of myself and the others, that we wouldn't have any purpose in our life if we hadn't met you." He kissed the top of her head as he laid her down on her bed gently, and held her hand as he whispered "Sleep well Princess."
Okay, I decided to end it with a sweet moment, because I felt like the whole chapter was so emotional. I hope you liked it and the next chapter will be about the grand magic games.