Enjoy.

Chapter 8

"What about a compromise? I'll kill them first, and if it turns out they were friendly, I'll apologize."

-Rick Riordan, The Lost Hero

You've heard of fight-or-flight. The instinct. The response. The rush of adrenaline.

Your hands begin to tremble uncontrollably. Your skin feels like it's on fire. Your heart begins to run a thousand beats per minute.

In reality, none of that is happening. Sure, your hands are shaking, you're flushed, and your heart is beating fast, but it's not out of your control. Not always.

Whichever response your body chooses: It is never your fault, no matter the consequences.

But, consequences... Lucy wasn't thinking of the consequences! She was bloody sick of consequences!

When you've spent the majority of your formative years surrounded by pasty sleazy old men, you become accustomed to breaking down walls that you can't even see. Whether you're female, a person of color, or a minority in any other sense, you get used to tiptoeing through minefields to appease the caste system. To build your place in society.

And Lucy had found her place. She'd found it twice, in fact. Once as a renowned Heartfilia heiress, and then a second time as an Ashley with the Heartfilia fortune. To say she didn't belong in the 'boy's club' business world was like telling a kitten it didn't belong in its mother's litter.

She'd been stewing on this for three days -and boy, was she ready to fight back! She could feel the adrenaline, the power. Her office desk was piled with documents and bureaucratic statements and economic plans. She was going to fight those governors to the death of her career.

Lucy was going to kick the governors out, their school funding be damned. She was able to devise shared catering and cleaning contracts with other schools in Magnolia's neighboring towns. She was even able to sweeten the deal by offering some of their commuting kids places in MagMa's boarding houses. Her own salary could take a hit, and she could use her own savings for school celebrations!

She didn't care what media sources picked it up. She didn't care that a school without a board of governors was questionable and stereotypically corrupt. But she wasn't the corrupt one here. She'd been waiting for the past ten minutes, reading the same papers over and over again, looking for any loophole in her plans. She had until Kinnana came knocking on her office door to let her know the governors were ready and sat for the meeting. The knock came a little too soon, although 'too soon' seemed to include any time from here to forever.

Up until now, up until she was standing staring into the eyes of the angry bull, she'd felt confident. Adrenaline had been burning through her system all-day, but now she just felt scared.

She closed her eyes, allowing herself to block out the room of hateful, egotistic elderly men. One second. One second was all she needed to find the fuel to keep the fire burning. Her mother's words:

"You have the strength. You always have the strength, Lucy. No matter where you are or who is standing beside you, you're strong enough to hold yourself up."

Lucy's mother wasn't a fortune cookie, but she had her fair share of wisdom, and that wisdom was all she needed to open her eyes.

"You can have the shares," She spoke, looking around the room of board members. Her hands resisted the urge to fidget under their stares.

One by one, they turned to the head of the table, waiting on Governor God Serena to react. Surprisingly, his face remained neutral, his features glued in that seemingly permanent raised eyebrows and shrewd smirk. He calmly drew a hand to pull a strawberry blonde strand of hair from his face, tucking it behind his ear before returning his hands to a folded rest.

"Well?" Lucy spoke again, sick of the unknowing silence.

His beady eyes traveled up and down her figure, taking his sweet time to answer. "We want more."

"More?" She almost sputtered. "There's nothing more I can give you!" Her knuckles gripped the edge of the table, going white from the tension.

"For a second, Miss Heartfilia, you truly did impress me." He let out a patronizing laugh. "For a woman, you must have an impeccable understanding of finances to dig your way out your daddy's money. But I shouldn't expect any less from a Heartfilia, should I? Cheating is in your blood."

"I'm not cheating."

"Then either I'm giving you more credit than is due, or you're a liar too. Genetics really are a puissant thing. We want what's left of the Heartfilia estate."

Lucy shook her head. "I sold that land."

"Gods, Miss Heartfilia, do I have to spell it out for you?"

She nodded, almost embarrassed by how oblivious Serena was making her feel.

"The small colonial mansion on the East grounds."

Oh. She knew exactly what small mansion he was talking about. The one piece of Heartfilia property she'd kept after inheriting the grounds. "What? You mean my Mother's summer house? It isn't worth anything. It's practically derelict."

"All the more reason for you to give it up. It can't be worth anything to you now." His smile crept further up his face, his eyes sparkling with malicious intent.

That smile told her more than she needed to know. Serena knew how much that place meant to her. Sure, it was worthless in a monetary sense, but to her, that place was everything.

The east Heartfilia home was the place Layla Heartfilia favored during the summer. Just a half hours car ride away from the main stately home, the now derelict building was a wonderful sight. With tall white pillars and marigold trims, the place spoke the beauty of the mother and child that resided there from late May to August each year. It housed Lucy's most treasured memories.

In actuality, it was more obvious now that Lucy was all grown up why her Mother had loved the place so much. It was their safe haven. It was time away from the gloomy corridors surrounding Jude Heartfilia's office. It was a place for Lucy to scream and play all she wanted before she had to go back to the studies her father insisted were so important. Lucy could be a child there.

It was the one part of her childhood that she didn't feel the immediate instinct to run away from, to hide in a box at the bottom of her wardrobe. It was where she learned magic, where she discovered her love of books, it was where...

Maybe she kept the place partially out of guilt. She couldn't really kid herself and say she was keeping it to renovate in the future. She wouldn't ever go back there. Why Serena wanted the place was beyond her. It was simply a personal treasure - an old dream. It was the place she'd spent her first ten birthdays. It was the place her mother died...

"If I hand the deeds to the house over," She managed to speak without stumbling over her words. "You have to step down from the board with immediate effect. All of you." She made sure to address the entire table.

He simply nodded, buzzing with the awareness that he'd gotten a lot more than he was going to give.

"We have a deal then, Mr. Serena."

The man got up from his plush leather chair, walking the length of the table to tower a good eight inches over the headmistress. "We have a deal, Miss Heartfilia." The words slivered out of his mouth as he took her small hand in his, shaking it, solidifying the deal.

Lucy Heartfilia wasn't a stalker. Yes, she'd been sat in her car for twenty minutes in the driveway of her boyfriend's house. And yes, that boyfriend was currently angry at her for being just a tad (okay, a lot) bitchy towards him a couple of nights ago, but she wasn't a stalker.

She'd come straight from the school, straight from the meeting with the (ex) board of governors. She was beginning to regret having done so. She was too worked up, too excited to begin any sort of apologies that didn't consist of a good few rounds of sex and a bottle of tequila. She needed a party, not a funeral.

So that's what she'd spent twenty minutes in her car doing. Not partying, just preparing herself to offer condolences for the previous state of the relationship. The curtain had been pulled back, and the monster of her stressy overworked self had been well and truly exposed. She was sure it wasn't the biggest issue, and apologizing wasn't the biggest of her worries at current, but it had certainly been promoted now that the governors were out of her life.

Lucy slipped the key out of its slot, taking a second to check her appearance in the rear-view mirror before getting out of the car. She straightened her pantsuit, taking the few steps up the front door. She drew in a deep breath, just about ready to knock on the door.

She really would've. Really. She had her fist raised, ready to rap against the red-painted wood, but it opened before she could. Lucy stood speechless as the pink-haired dragon slayer stared back at her with a scowl on his face.

"You enjoying yourself in my driveway?" Natsu grumbled sarcastically.

"What? No." She spluttered out her response, only now realizing how unprepared she was. "I- uh. I mean..."

He took the hand he had resting on the open door, pushing it into the back pocket of his jeans lazily. When Lucy didn't speak again, too caught up in holding back the urge to verbally vomit all over him, Natsu replaced his hand, begging to shut the door.

"Wait!" She only just caught the door with her foot, wincing as it bruised the skin beneath her slingback heels. "Natsu, I'm here to apologize for Friday night. I wasn't-"

"You don't need to tell me why." He interrupted, looking a little bored. "I just want an apology, not a fucking thesis."

"Right." She mumbled. "Well, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for being a total bitch to you. You didn't deserve it, and I'm sorry."

"Wow. Three sorries. You've made me a rich man, Miss Ashley." He smiled at her, making her shoulders instantly relax at the familiar expression. It was weird seeing him angry. She supposed it was as weird to her as it was to him to see her bitchy.

"How many times have I told you not to call me that?"

He shook his head playfully at her giggles. "You wanna come inside? I've just opened a bottle of mid-range bourbon."

"I will never say no to mid-range bourbon."

He opened the door wider to let her in, both sharing the same smile as they sat down on the living room sofa. They settled at each end, Lucy shaking off her heels on the floor and dragging her heels underneath her bottom.

She took the glass offered to her, taking a sip before talking. "My Dad used to drink scotch. Always had a bottle on his desk."

"Oh. What changed?" Natsu asked, taking his own drink.

"He died."

"Oh, shit." He was about to offer condolences before she started smiling and shaking her head. "...I'm sorry?"

She let out a small laugh. "Don't be. He was a son of a bitch who gave me nothing but trouble." She continued when he didn't respond, still holding a sullen look on his face. "I'm just saying, you don't have to be so serious about it."

"You're an orphan?" He asked pretty abruptly.

"Um, yeah. Why?"

"No reason. I guess it's just weird for me to hear someone insult their dead parent so casually."

She took another sip, holding back the urge to giggle apparently inappropriately. "Not all of us had superhero dads."

"My dad wasn't a superhero." He laughed into his glass. "He was a cop, though."

"Oh, that's really cool."

"Yeah, I thought so too. He was my idol as a kid. Still is." He smiled to himself at the memory of his 'superhero' father. "He got shot in the line of duty. Some stupid intercepted firearms trade gone wrong. They didn't even catch the guys."

"I'm sorry." Lucy pressed a hand to his, squeezing it gently.

He squeezed it back, offering her a small smile. "How'd your Mom die?"

She was slightly taken aback by the question. "Oh, uh. She had an accident."

"A car accident? That's rough."

"Not as rough as your own kid murdering you." She didn't bother to correct him, mumbling to herself under the guise of a swig.

"What?" He'd had trouble catching her exact words. They were too quiet for his brain to compute them and so they got chucked into the 'Screw this, she speaks weird' pile.

"No, uh. Nothing." She coughed awkwardly, suddenly feeling warm.

Lucy dragged the pantsuit jacket down her arms, dumping the plain navy blazer on the floor by her shoes. She would've taken her shirt off too if that were appropriate.

"Um, Natsu." She choked a little, trying to get her words out. "Could you turn the heating down a bit, please?"

She began to fan herself as he chuckled. "Luce, it's May."

"And?"

"I don't know what kind of money you have," He continued to laugh. "But I don't pay to keep the heating on all year. It's warm enough, anyway."

"Says the fire dragon slayer who's impervious to heat," she grumbled sulkily.

Natsu chuckled again, refilling his glass before offering a top-up to his girlfriend. "What was that about, by the way. The whole stressy bitch thing on Friday. Don't get me wrong, I was getting worried at how you seemed to have it all together. I was almost relieved to see you snap like that."

"I thought you didn't want a thesis, Professor Dragneel." She smirked, raising an eyebrow.

"Call it concern, Miss Ashley."

They both shared an amused smile at the humorous nicknames. "I just had some stuff going on at work. Like you said: I was being a stressy bitch, and I'm sorry."

"It's okay. You apologized already. And I get it. Work is shit. Sometimes you just wanna burn the place down."

She laughed at that. "So what? I'm gonna torch the school and the governors with it?"

"The governors?"

"Yeah. They made my life hell. None of them actually gave a shit about the kids."

"Sounds like a group of idiots- Excuse my french." He jested.

"They were. That's why I got rid of them."

"Murder? Miss Ashley, I didn't take you for the criminal type."

They laughed again, Lucy shaking her head. Her fingers began to pick at each other, fidgeting as she tried to think of what to say. It was arguably lucky that it was that second that a phone took the opportunity to ring. Natsu excused himself, slipping out of the room and turning left down the hallway.

Lucy heard the door close to whatever room Natsu had entered. She didn't really know what to do without Natsu there, so she chose to look at the pictures on the wall whilst she waited. She stood, looking at the ones closest to the hallway door- A small collection of three pictures, each with the same black frame. In all three of the photos was a girl with long blue hair and freckles, looking to be about twelve, seventeen, and twenty-two in order.

In the first, Natsu had his arms around the girl's neck, and an older man was stood next to the two. Natsu was probably only fifteen, but he had none of that teenage boy moodiness about him. The look in his eyes spoke so much happiness, as did the matching look of the other two people. In the next photo, the girl was standing on a runway with a big plane behind her. Lucy didn't recognize the airspace, but she did recognize the telltale uniform of a Fiore Air Force soldier. The girl's dark blue hair was cut to a more manageable length, and she had the look of pride burned onto her face. A green, heavy backpack weighed on her small figure. Natsu wasn't in this picture. Either he was the one behind the camera, or he wasn't there at all.

In the third picture, Natsu was back in. His sister was holding the camera, taking a selfie of them both. The girl was once again in her F.A.F. uniform, but this time Natsu had on a graduation gown and cap. In all three of the pictures, the smiles never stopped. Lucy could only assume that the girl was Natsu's little sister. He'd mentioned her briefly, she recalled. The girl was a dragon slayer like Natsu and Gajeel.

Deciding to find Natsu, Lucy walked out of the living room and down the hallway. His voice was coming from the next room, a room Lucy hadn't yet been in. She went through the set of double doors, into a study, watching Natsu leaning on the side of his desk, landline to his ear. She waited for Natsu to finish his conversation, taking the time to look around the unfamiliar room.

It was unexpectedly posh. The walls were a mahogany wood, and a set of pretty french windows sat behind the large desk. Filing cabinets and draws lined the sides with papers stacked on each in a disorganized fashion so classic to the dragon slayer.

"Are you sure?" She caught a few words of Natsu's conversation as he finished. "Okay. Well, let me know if you find out anything more. Thanks."

He put the phone back on the desk, pressing the red button before turning to his girlfriend.

"Sorry about that, I had to take it." He excused, walking over and placing a hand on her elbow. "I'm all yours now. Promise."

"All mine, huh?" She giggled, stepping closer to him.

Natsu hummed in approval, drawing her closer to him. He guided her backward, pressing Lucy to a desk behind her. He captured her lips in a kiss, enjoying the purr of satisfaction from the headmistress as he coaxed her into another. His hands sought her waist, untucking her shirt from her trousers. Lucy's hand grabbed his, stopping him from wrinkling another expensiveshirt.

Having removed his hand from the danger zone, she began to unbutton her shirt. Natsu, however, had other ideas. He halted her unfastening hand, leaving only a light blue demi bra exposed. His kisses traveled down her cheek and neck, pressing more to the top of her décolletage. She moaned as his fingers grazed the bottom of her tits, enjoying the feel of her bra dragging slightly across her areolas.

"Natsu." She panted out as he slipped a cup to rest underneath her left breast. He chuckled as he let his tongue trace the underside of her bare skin, alerting Lucy to the tedious sensation pulsing through her body. It felt amazing!

She yanked at his shirt, pulling it off, over his head, throwing it somewhere across the room. She pulled him away from her breasts, yearning for another kiss, but Natsu didn't give.

That's when Lucy decided to take matters into her own hands. She continued to undress him, swiping his belt and pulling on the waistband of his pants until his briefs showed. She wetted her lips, unconsciously, at the bulge on show below. She felt a finger touch it before knew what she was doing. Tracing the edge of the bulge, she heard him gasp against her ear. Lucy tucked her hand into his underwear, tugging at his pubes before grasping his erect phallus. Natsu physically shivered at her touch.

She felt it pulse beneath her touch, only exciting her more. She followed the veins to the tip, smiling at the fluid already spreading on her fingers. "Gods, Lucy!" Natsu mumbled into her skin. His teeth bit down on her shoulder, causing her to squeal at the unexpected pain.

She wrapped a hand around the tip of his penis, slowly drawing her first pump. Her ministrations increased in speed. His buckling knees pressed her further into the desk for lazy support. Lucy's other hand traveled around his waist, scratching at the skin above the right butt cheek. He groaned again, embracing her working hands.

The groan distracted her just enough to pull her brain out of the sex-fuelled fog it had been marinating in for the past ten minutes. Was she really going to do it? She was essentially walking into a battlefield blind, and she wanted to show her boyfriend a good time...

She just went with it, ignoring any self-deprecating thoughts. She grabbed his shoulders roughly, turning them so he hit the desk where she'd been propped up. Lucy dropped to her knees, eying the appendage, analyzing her game plan.

"Lucy?" Natsu questioned from above her. "What are you doing?"

"Doing something for myself, finally." She laughed nervously, slowly closing her mouth around his tip.

She sucked, apprehensive to do anything bold. It was only when Natsu's hand tugged at her hair did she begin to take in his reactions. He liked it when she added a little teeth, mainly near the tip. Natsu also liked the hand she'd placed at the base, playing gently with his scrotum.

His hand pulled even more at her hair, causing her to moan around his dick at the weird sensation. She let her spit act as lube, making it easier to bob her head up and down the length. She changed speed again, teething a little more. Natsu hissed, letting Lucy know that too much teeth was a bad thing. She took him deeper, trying to apologize even though she knew there was no need to.

"Lucy, w-wait." He stuttered, trying to hold back from erupting into her mouth. "I'm gonna-"

Lucy suddenly felt her nerves kick in. She gagged at the sudden distraction, pulling her head from his dick and tumbling backward onto her ass.

"Shit, are you okay?" Natsu asked worriedly as he fastened his jeans back up.

"Y-yeah." She took a second to recover, grateful for the hand he offered to pull her up. "I'm fi-" Her words paused as she accidentally glanced the wall behind the dragonslayer.

"Lucy?"

"I- uh. What's that?" She pointed to a large notice board. Every inch of cork was covered by papers, each one connected by lines of red string. Only a few photographs and newspaper clippings lay separate from the weaving paths of thread.

It looked like a case board. One a dedicated detective would've compiled after days, if not months, of research. "Oh, uh. That's my... Uh." Any excitement in his lower region was slowly shrinking. He let himself breathe for a brief moment. "Igneel's case was never properly closed." He admitted calmly. "I've been trying to track down the remaining relatives of the man who shot him so they can pay... Legally or morally, I don't care."

"W-who..?" Lucy stammered through her words, her eyes glued to a familiar image on the board. "Who killed your, um, Igneel?"

"Some business magnate. Owned that big railway business that runs cargo trains. Jude Hearfilia."

He didn't notice the visible freezing of his girlfriend's body. He just kept talking.

"He has some family left. I'm trying to find his daughter, though. Apparently, she ran off and waisted her entire inheritance. How spoilt do you have to be..."

His comments faded into white noise, no longer being actively processed by Lucy's mind. She was hyper fixated on the board. Paper after paper speculated the whereabouts and habits of the missing Heartfilia heiress, and, honestly, the information was laughable at best.

'Heartfilia heiress spotted in Bosco- the gambling district of the world!'

'Heartfilia blows fortune on useless pets, abandons business world entirely!'

'Layla Heartfilia placed in a long-term care unit after a near-fatal accident on the evening of July 7th! More information on page-"

Wait, what?

That wasn't right. Her Mom had died the evening of July 7th! She was the one who bloody-

She closed her eyes, feeling herself stepping slowly towards the door. The dragon slayer was still whittling on about whatever slutty rumor he'd heard recently about the over-coddled debutante. He didn't even notice the beginings of her escape until he'd heard the study door slam behind her as she ran.

He chased after her, sprinting to the open front door only to watch her start the engine in the ford and speed out of his driveway.

He'd just scared off the first girl he'd liked in months...

Updates should be every Wednesday and Sunday from now on. If not, every Sunday!

Also, I owe a big thank you to FairyTailxFanGirl, as always, for your review, and Copperreign12 for your lovely review. Reviews are always great to read and really cheer me up when college decides to be a dead duck day. Thank you so much!

When writing this chapter, I spent a good fifteen minutes realizing that the dilemma the governors had given Lucy was also the same one they'd given me... And I wrote the damn characters.

The way I write consists of a basic story outline, and then the finer details come in as I'm writing. Apparently, for this chapter, those 'finer details' included how Lucy was going to get back control of her school.