"Lushi, you should get that one!" Happy said while peering over the ring counter with the rest of Team Natsu, minus Erza.
"Happy, this is a fake wedding, we don't need a 900,000 jewel ring," Lucy replied, rolling her eyes.
"Luce, if we're gonna return the ring anyway, we could get it for fun," Natsu said while inspecting the ring Happy pointed out. "Can we look at that one?" he asked the man standing behind the ring counter.
"That's not how it works, Natsu," Lucy said while rubbing her temples.
"Isn't it though?" Gray asked while looking at the ring with Natsu that was on top of the counter.
"That's so unnecessary, we don't even have to get a real one! What if one of the diamonds fall out? Or what if I lose it?" Lucy said.
"Lucy, we're only doing this to catch the dark guild. It's just for a few hours. Let's have a little fun with it!" Natsu said. "We'll take it," he said while throwing his money on the counter with a smile.
"It's a beautiful ring!" Wendy chirped, Carla peering over her shoulder. It was a princess cut engagement ring, with two ruby red sapphires on each side. They had picked out a simple wedding band beforehand.
"Since when do you carry around almost 1,000,00 jewel?" Lucy said, shocked at the giant wad of cash Natsu had thrown onto the counter, now being counted by the cashier.
"899,900, 900,000," the cashier mumbled under his breath. He looked up from the money and stared Natsu for a moment. "Sir, I appreciate your enthusiasm, but this is not a ring rental store. I cannot give this to you just for you to bring it back. Perhaps you could try one of the toy stalls in the market," he snapped.
Natsu slammed his hand on the counter and cleared his throat. "Now listen here, Mr..." he trailed off while attempting to read the man's nametag. It read, 'Mark.' "Mr. Marcus," he finally said. "This here is my fiancée," he said as he swiftly wrapped his arm around Lucy's waist and pulled him into his side.
"But you just said-"
"I wasn't finished!" Natsu yelled in the man's face, making him jump.
"She will have the best god-damned ring in Fiore and I think its this one. Don't you think?" He growled, leaning into the man's face. He nodded rapidly. "Good. I hope you understand this time. We'll take it." He repeated from earlier.
'Mr. Mark' did not oblige and quickly bagged the ring and handed it to Natsu with a shaky hand. He snatched the bag and turned around, making his way to the door, taking Lucy with him. Gray and Wendy followed close behind, but Happy was left rolling on the floor laughing, tears escaping his eyes as Carla reprimanded him for being so loud in the store. Lucy's face was as red as fire from Natsu's outburst.
For some reason, Lucy felt funny when Natsu called her his fiancée. Shaking her head and riding of these thoughts, she peeled his arm off of her. "Natsu! You scared the poor man!" His face was unreadable for a moment before it broke into a smile.
"I know, did you see his face?" he asked before cackling loudly. Lucy smacked the back of his head as they neared the glass doors.
"Lucy! I found the PERFECT dress!" Erza yelled from outside of the store, holding a dress bag.
"It's probably best that Natsu got the fancy ring, Erza probably got the most extra dress in all of Fiore," Gray laughed as Lucy sighed at the realization that Gray was probably right. Leaving Erza in charge of the dress portion of this operation was probably a bad idea.
The job request was to stop a dark guild who would crash weddings and attack the guests, led by a fake priest. The plan was for Natsu and Lucy to have a fake wedding to lure them in, and then take them down from there.
In all of the past cases, the couples were fake wed and then as they walked down the aisle, the dark mages would run in and ambush everyone at the ceremony. The 'priest' would sneak away, no one knew if he had magic or if he didn't choose to show it.
"Why do Natsu and I have to do it?" Lucy whined as they made their way back to the hotel.
"Because you two already are in loooove!" Happy said while circling them overhead.
"If I get my hands on you I'm going to take you back to Stella and feed you to the dogs!" Lucy said while trying to grab Happy's tail, while he flew higher up for his safety. Natsu just laughed.
"Calm down! We aren't supposed to make ourselves stand out!" Erza said through her teeth. Natsu paled and his laughter instantly ceased. She exhaled before turning Lucy's direction. "Don't worry about it too much, Lucy. Remember, it's all fake."
They began to make their way back to their hotel to get ready. At one point, Erza had to stop everyone while she scolded Natsu and Gray for causing a ruckus in the street after Natsu threw Gray into a man's juice cart. Wendy and Lucy stood by, Wendy holding the dress bag. She quietly unzipped it, ignoring Carla's suggestion to keep it inside the bag, and gasped when she saw it.
"Lucy, it's gorgeous!" she gushed as she lightly brushed her hand over the lace fabric. Lucy leaned over to take a peek (not that she cared) but jumped when she heard Erza yell at them as she and the boys came near.
"Isn't it? I tried it on and knew it was the one!" she exclaimed, a bright smile on her face, ignoring the grumbling Natsu and Gray that she held by their collars. Gray shook her off.
"You tried it on?" he snorted. Erza crossed her arms.
"Yes. I had to make sure it would fit Lucy. We are the same size," she simply replied.
"Lucy is waaaay heavier than you, Erza. I hope you got an extra-large!" Happy snickered. Lucy stomped over to him before grabbing him by his tail.
"Now I warned you, cat!" she growled as she stretched his cheeks as he whined.
Natsu ignored them and ran over to where Wendy held the bag open. "I wanna see!" he said, eager to see the dress. Erza gasped.
"No!" She yelled, grabbing the bag from Wendy and zipping it back up. "The groom cannot see the dress before the wedding!" she cried, clutching the bag close to her chest. Lucy let go of Happy and looked over to Erza.
"It's just pretend! I don't know why you guys are making such a big deal out of it after you just reminded me it was fake!"
"Speaking of the dress, Natsu, did you bring your tux?" Gray questioned, ignoring Lucy.
"Who said I had a tux?" He asked. Gray sighed before grabbing his arm and started taking them in the opposite direction.
"I'm gonna take him to rent a tux. We'll meet you guys back at the hotel later," he called, trying to keep himself upright as Natsu twisted his arm.
"Get offa' me, you pervy popsicle!" they heard Natsu yell as they walked away from them.
"Idiots," Lucy said, rolling her eyes. Erza abruptly took off down the street.
"Hurry up! We have to get Lucy ready!" She called to them, waving her hand in her direction. Wendy and Carla quickly followed and they happily skipped off in the direction of their hotel. Lucy sighed and uneasily followed.
Lucy stared at her reflection in the wall body mirror. True to Erza and Wendy's word, the dress was absolutely beautiful. It fit her snug until the upper thigh, where it flowed freely to the floor. The train was elegantly long, and the veil framed her face perfectly.
Scratch that, she looked beautiful.
She took a deep breath and smoothed her sweaty hands down on the front of her gown. Wendy smiled up at her.
"Lucy, I almost wish this were real. You look so pretty!"
"Thanks, Wendy," she softly replied, giving her a weak smile. Wendy frowned.
"What's wrong? Do you not like it? I could attempt to make some adjustments, but I can't promise it will look good-"
"No no! It's... It's the most beautiful dress I've ever seen. It's just..." Lucy trailed off. Wendy looked up at her expectantly for an answer. "I know it's fake, but it just reminds me that I'm nowhere near getting married."
She yearned for a relationship. She wanted someone to hold her, care for her, and love her. Every single one of her dates failed. It's not that she couldn't get them, it's just that the men were always-
"Dicks! I can't believe they aren't back by now. They better not be late for the ceremony, the dark mages might skip town!" Erza growled as she looked out the window, awaiting their arrival. She turned and looked at Lucy, and her face cleared instantly. "It looks so pretty on you! I knew I chose the right one."
"Thanks..." Lucy said quietly.
She wanted her soulmate. The man she would spend the rest of her life with. The man who would be her everything.
But who was he?