Chapter 14: The Heart Wants What the Heart Wants

Lucy groaned and slid against the wall as she cursed herself. She had fallen for that idiot.

"Damn it."

"Yo Luce! Are you in here?" An unwanted voice called out. "I need to tell you something."

Lucy wanted to stay quiet and hidden in her own little corner, away from this cruel reality that was destroying her sanity. How could she have been so stupid to fall for someone as dense and idiotic as Natsu? Now was NOT the time to fall in love.

Yet, the universe had once again conspired against her and Natsu had found her sitting in said corner. In panic, she pretended to be asleep. She silently cursed when she realized she could've pretended to be reading the book on her lap.

Unbeknownst to her, Natsu smiled sweetly at the scene in front of him. Lucy looked so peaceful just sitting there, sleeping. He couldn't help but comment.

"Beautiful." He muttered. But, Lucy didn't hear it. Though, she did feel him wrap his arms around her and lift her to bring her back to her room. She unconsciously snuggled against his warm embrace as she actually did fall asleep to the steady pace of his heartbeat.

When he reached her room, he greeted the others already there. Erza and Wendy were a little cold to him, but Gray was nicer.

He gently set Lucy down on her bed before trying to wake her up. She groggily opened her eyes.

"Whatdoyouwant?" She murmured, trying to snuggle closer in her blankets. She hadn't realized how tired she was.

"We need to talk." Natsu prompted. "About the gauntlet."

Lucy groaned. "I don't wanna."

"But it's important." Natsu said. "Pleaaasseee!"

"Later."

"I'll give you my dessert tonight."

Lucy gave him a look.

"..."

"And Gray's tomorrow."

"Deal."

"Wait what? I didn't agree to that!" Gray shouted in protest.

Natsu handed her the piece of leather that had saved her life, yet it was about to make it harder at the same time.

"So what is so important about the gauntlet?" Gray asked, upset that his dessert had been stolen from him.

Lucy sighed as she got into storytelling mode. Curse her stupid heart.

She told them about the damned house that was really getting on her nerves and described what happened right before Wendy had shot the zombie.

Wendy was a little shocked by what had actually happened and blushed at the praise Erza gave her.

Then Natsu filled them in on how he found out, much to Lucy's dissatisfaction.

But then Gray had to speak up. It was revenge for his dessert. "So when were you planning on telling us this?"

Lucy shifted nervously. She mumbled her answer to which Natsu chuckled at.

"Speak up, Luce. They don't have hearing that even compares to mine."

Lucy shot him another look that would have sent him to his grave. Oh she was so gonna kill him when this was over.

Luckily enough for her, Gray and Erza whacked him for her while Wendy kicked him in the shins.

"Oi! That hurt!"

But, that didn't distract them as they waited no so patiently for her answer.

"Never."

This caused an uproar.

"NEVER?"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN NEVER?"

"I mean that I wasn't gonna tell you until somebody decided to rat me out."

Erza and Gray sighed as they explained some new rules to Lucy.

"For now on, if anyone gets bit and is lucky enough to survive, you tell us right away. No trying to hide it." Gray said.

"Failure to do so leads to losing the privilege of dessert," Erza added, sensing that it was a touchy topic for them.

Lucy nodded, but she wants revenge. "Fair. But I wanna add a rule."

Erza nodded, ignoring the bad feeling in her stomach.

Lucy smirked. "All romantic relationships must be disclosed to all teammates." She had Erza trapped.

Erza blushed a little before hesitantly agreeing, not sensing the dangerous aura surrounding Lucy.

Natsu stared at Lucy in admiration. She had just pulled a boss move that would turn the tables from now on forward.

"Well Natsu, wanna start first?" Wendy asked.

Natsu sent a death glare at his traitorous sister.

"I'm single." He said. "By choice." Gray had murmured something to Lucy about him being too ugly.

Gray smirked as he voiced his own idea. "Why don't we amend that to include secret crushes as well, right Flame Brains?"

Natsu wished Gray a thousands deaths as he nodded slowly.

"You still have the mike Natsu." Erza said as the mischievous spark in her eyes glowed extra bright.

"Well… I, uh, like this girl." He said. "Your turn Luce."

"Well, before the apocalypse, I was engaged to this dude named Dan Straight. Nasty guy. I think he turned, so I guess that means my fiance is a zombie?" Lucy said as the others let their jaws drop dangerously low to the ground.

"How old are you?" Gray asked incredulously.

"Yeah. You don't look too old." Natsu added.

"I'm 19. I'll be turning 20 in July." Lucy admitted.

"So she is the same age as us," Erza muttered.

"That means you were engaged at 16?" Wendy cried. "That's horrible! Why would you do that?"

Lucy shrugged. "It was my father's decision."

"I'd say that the engagement is null and void now," Erza spoke.

"If that's the case, then I'm single. Your turn Erza." Lucy sighed in relief as they forgot to ask about her crush.

"I'm dating Jellal." She said in defeat, a blush evident on her cheeks. "Though, you don't seem too surprised."

"Well, it was kinda obvious," Wendy said, referencing to the not-so-secret cuddles they had when they met as a group.

Erza's blush deepened and she motioned for them to continue.

"I really haven't thought too much about it yet." Wendy said. "I guess maybe there's this guy, but I'm too young really."

"Damn straight you are," Natsu growled as Lucy hummed in agreement. "Any guy that lays his eyes on you will be beaten to a pulp by all of us."

"...sure. It's gra- gahhh! Your pants!" Wendy cried. Lucy immediately covered the girl's eyes as Natsu growled menacingly at Gray.

"Are you making a move on my sister?"

"Nonono! I swear! It just happened!" Gray said, struggling to find pants, which Erza handed to him.

"Excuses excuses." Natsu mocked. "Well go. It's your turn."

Gray actually blushed as he admitted his relationship with Juvia.

"Stalker girl?" Natsu asked in shock. "Figures. No other girl would ever hook up with him."

"Stalker girl?" Lucy and Wendy asked.

"About a year ago, I saved Juvia when she was still part of Phantom Lord (another base). She kinda fell in love for me and even joined Fairy Tail just to be with me. I guess I realized I liked her too a couple of months ago and we started dating. End of story."

Lucy smiled at the blush that dominated Gray's face.

"Awww. It's almost too cute!" She teased. Natsu burst out laughing.

Gray humphed and was about to retort back when a knock on the door interrupted him.

"Yes?" Lucy called. The door opened slowly.

"Oh hello Mirajane!" Lucy said, but was quiet after seeing the look on her face.

"Is everything okay?" Wendy said.

Mirajane slowly walked into the room. Everyone sent each other questioning looks, but were startled when Mira collapsed and burst into tears.

"It's Laxus! He's missing."

"They're dating," Natsu whispered and Lucy nodded, her confusion resolved.

"What happened?" Natsu asked gently.

"He and the Thunder Legion were supposed to be visiting quadrant 6 of Sector 1 and… and… they came back all bruised and beaten. Only, Laxus wasn't with them."

"What were they doing in sector 1? That place is supposed to be untouchable!" Gray asked.

"I don't know. He wouldn't say. He wouldn't tell me anything else."

Lucy lead Mirajane to her bed and sat her down, rubbing her hand in small circles to sooth her.

"Is there anything else that might help us?"

"Help you?" Mirajane furrowed her eyebrows.

"Yeah! Help us find Laxus." Lucy said warmly. Her team was mildly surprised at her statement, but then again… They were Fairy Tail.

Mirajane squeezed Lucy in a death hug. "Thank you." She whispered.

"No problem. Now I need to know everything you know about their mission." Lucy said walking over to take out an old journal. She flipped to a blank page and looked at Mirajane patiently.

"Well… they went to Q6, so it's really far away. Maybe 20-30 miles? I don't know."

Lucy smiled and nodded encouragingly. "Did you see them leave?"

"Yeah. I always watch Laxus leave."

"Good. good. I need a date, time, and please try to list what he brought with him."

Mirajane nodded. "It was last Thursday, so June 18th? Yeah. As for weapons… oh yeah! He brought his hammer and taser. The rest of them had their usual weapons, but they also had this weird gun thing."

Lucy wrote everything down. "How long were they supposed to be out for?"

"2 weeks."

"Thank you Mirajane. We'll leave as soon as possible." Lucy assured the sobbing girl who nodded.

"I'll go make some food."

"You don't have to." Erza said.

"Yes I do. It's the only way I can repay you."

They all wished Mirajane well and assured her that they'd bring Laxus back alive before discussing a plan.

"Gramps said that the zombie to square foot ratio in Sector 1 was like 6:1. From what I've heard, it's like a can of hostile sardines that want to bite you." Natsu said in reply to a question Lucy asked.

She flipped through her notebook until she found what she was looking for.

"Here we go. I called this the Flush and Burn technique. Since Q6 is about 77 square miles, we need to rig up approximately 22 explosions, 11 in one area, and 11 in the other. We're gonna need at least 6 people though. Any idea who'd be up for it?"

Erza and gray discussed possible candidates while Natsu, Wendy and Lucy worked on their plan.

"What if we have 20 explosions, but in 4 different places," Wendy proposed. "That way we save time and resources."

"That's a good idea, but we'll need more people then. 12 I think." Lucy said. "Because it takes 3 people to set it up."

"Good. But this method is a little iffy. What if we set a zombie on fire to draw the first hoard in?" Natsu asked.

Lucy nodded and tweaked her notes.

"Alright then. Erza, can I see that list?" She called.

When she was handed the list, she asked Wendy and Natsu for a background on each person.

"Elfman?"

"Mirajane's younger brother. He's a decent fighter, but really strong. You could use him for set up."

"I know Jellal and Gajeel, but who's Gildarts?"

Natsu answered this one. "Only the strongest runner in the entire base. He's Cana's dad, but he used to be this really famous athlete. I think he's back right now from his last mission."

"Good. Cana's on the list too and so is Juvia. But we still need another person."

"I'll do it." A voice said. It was Mirajane.

"Mirajane?"

"I know Laxus best and I used to be a runner. There's no one more qualified." She said.

Lucy wanted to object, but Natsu said yes.

"Welcome to the team!" Wendy said before leaving with Erza to gather the remaining potential group members.

When they came back, they had everyone in tow.

"Sit." Erza ordered. They all sat in a circle on Lucy's floor.

Is it me or is it getting crowded in here? Lucy thought to herself.

"Why are we here?" Gajeel complained. He had been about to take a nap when the scarlet haired witch kidnap him. Not that he would ever say that out loud and face her wrath.

"Yeah, I was trying to get some sleep ya know." Cana groaned, clutching her head in pain. More people joined into the complaining and it was absolute chaos.

Erza cleared her throat. "Listen up guys."

Everyone subsequently shut up.

"We have a crisis on our hands. One of our own has gone missing." Cue the groans.

"Who is it this time?" Elfman moaned, thinking that this was a waste of time.

"Laxus."

Everyone gasped. Laxus was probably the second best runner (after Gildarts). He was the last person they expected to go missing.

"What?! That's practically impossible! What about the rest of the Thunder Legion?" Gajeel scoffed.

"Out cold in the infirmary." Mirajane whispered. Gajeel's eyes softened when he saw the pain in her eyes.

"Juvia is in." A voice said. Lucy saw a beautiful girl with blue hair speak up. Thrown off by the use of the third person, it took Lucy a couple seconds to place a name to a face. "For Gray-sama's sake."

Lucy nodded and put a checkmark next to her name.

"Hold on. Let's not rush to join. Do you guys even have a plan?" Gildarts said.

Lucy nodded and motioned for Natsu to explain.

"So we're gonna have a mass explosion to wipe out the zombies?" Gildarts said. "No surprise that's what you guys came up with."

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" Natsu protested.

"Well, a pyromaniac deciding to blow up things? It kinda makes sense."

"But I didn't come up with the plan!" Natsu whined. "It was all Luce's idea. She has like a whole book of cool plans."

Lucy blushed at both the new attention and Natsu's nickname for her. She hadn't noticed the change from Lucy to Luce.

Gildarts and Cana squinted their eyes at Lucy and then turned to Natsu. After repeating this for a few times, the shook their heads.

"No way. Lucy is a sweet and pretty girl. Natsu is a pyro." Gildarts said.

"Once more comment and I won't be as sweet," Lucy said, following the his gaze to somewhere he was not supposed to be staring. Her evil aura was more noticeable now.

"Gah! Erza jr.!" He cried and hid behind his daughter.

"So are you guys in or not?" Gray asked, exasperated. They were wasting time.

"I'm in." Gajeel said.

"Me too. Anything for my sister. And I'm a REAL MAN." Elfman agreed.

One by one, each one joined until GIldarts was left.

"Well…"

Lucy, Cana and Erza glared at him.

"Fine. I'm in. Just don't put me with Lucy. Please."

"No worries. I've already figured out the teams." Lucy said, smiling. (Cue the S-Class Trial Music)

"Juvia, Gray, and Gajeel."

Juvia squealed with joy.

"Erza, Jellal, and Gildarts."

Gildarts' soul left his body when Erza glared at him.

"Elfman, Mirajane, and Cana."

"MANLY!"

"Which leaves, Natsu, Wendy and I." Lucy said and Cana gave her a suggestive wink.

"When do we leave?" Cana asked.

The door swung open.

"Now." A new voice said, which caused everyone to scream. They were in big trouble.

Chapter 14.5: Let the Games Begin!

Lucy couldn't deny her surprise when her friends roped her into a game of tag. At first it seemed so… innocent. After all, when she was little she read stories of best friends chasing each other around a park and laughing. But of course, that wasn't how this went. It all started with Levy, one of her best friends and vice-president of the NaLu club.

"Hey Lu-chan!" Levy shouted out to her friend who was peacefully reading in one of the quiet corners of the library. Upon hearing her name, Lucy perked her head up and set her book down.

"Hey Levy-chan! I haven't seen you in a couple days. What have been up to?"

"Nothing much. Makarov has kept me busy with chores and stuff."

"Wow, that sucks."

"Yeah, but it's the most I can do. Anyway, I was wondering if you were up for a little game of tag?"

Lucy wasn't sure about the faint evil glint in Levy's eyes, but ignored her instinct and said yes. She guessed that was all Levy needed and found herself being dragged at lightning speed out of the library. Levy seemed to know where she was going, but Lucy was totally lost. The last (and only) time she'd seen this part of the school was when she had gotten lost looking for Natsu. She had no idea where she was.

"Hey Levy? Where are we going?"

"Oh, we're meeting up in Natsu and Gray's room. Though… I suppose I should just call it Gray's room since Natsu already practically lives in your room anyway."

"Eh!?" Lucy sputted, a flush coating her cheeks. Was it too late to turn back? She heard someone chuckle and she hoped they were there to save her from was she suspected was an interrogation on her feelings for Natsu.

"I think you're right Levy! I'm sure I'll come in to find all of Natsu's crap packed up and ready to be moved any day now."

Lucy groaned. She had spoken too soon. Gray could be just as bad as Levy sometimes.

"Oh shut it Ice Dick," A voice yelled from one of the many former-classrooms in that hall. "Wait… whose room would I even move into?"

Gray sighed and pinched his nose with his fingers in fake annoyance. "Lucy's room, you dumb ass."

"Oooo. She's a much better roommate than you anyway, so I wouldn't mind." Natsu yelled. Lucy squeaked and the flush deepened.

"Well, you can ask for permission in a few seconds. We're like 14 feet away."

There was silence. And then Natsu spoke again.

"She's with you isn't she?" This time he sounded sheepish.

"Yup and about to see what a pig you are." Gray snickered.

Lucy and Levy could hear some things being knocked over in what they assumed to be his rush to spruce things up a bit. By this time Gajeel had joined them and Lucy could have sworn she saw Levy blush at the sight of him.

"Yo Shrimp! Bunny girl… don't tell me Salamander's tryin' to clean up again…"

When Gajeel heard a 'yes' from everyone, he swore. "Somebody stop him before he destroys the whole room."

Lucy looked at Gray, who was clutching his stomach as he died from laughter. No help from him. She turned right to look at Levy only to find her bickering with Gajeel. While her suspicions were confirmed, she was left with babysitting duty.

She knocked on the door.

"Come in, Luce," Natsu called in a stained voice. Lucy opened the door and opened her mouth to ask him a question.

"I knew it was you because you're the only one who would ever have the decency to knock." He explained. Yet, it didn't explain his precarious position as he balanced so dangerously on top of a bookcase with a rather heavy box in his hands.

"Um… great… Need help?" Lucy asked.

"Nope, I got it," Natsu groaned as he heaved the box onto the top shelf of what appeared to be a closet three feet away. On the final shove, he leaned too far forwards and his foot slipped. Lucy didn't even realize she moved until she found herself directly beneath him as he hit her.

At the sound of the commotion, the three straggler, joined by three more friends, rushed in.

Gray was first, much to their dismay, and froze when he saw their position. Natsu was literally on top of Lucy, who could only lay there helplessly.

"Wow man. That was quick."

Natsu's face burned, which was a new sight for most of the people crowding in the room, as he quickly jumped off Lucy.

"...sorry," He mumbled to Lucy, who was now equally flushed.

"No problem. Let's just get the game started." She said.

"Wh-" Gajeel had been elbowed by Levy, who grinned scarily.

"We're all playing tag, remember?"

"Aye!"

[time skip]

They had split into 4 teams of two, which was only possibly because of the three previously mentioned friends who joined in on the fun.

1- Team Gray-sama: Juvia and Gray

2- Team Strawberry: Jellal and Erza

3- Team Shrimp: Gajeel and Levy

4- Team NaLu: Natsu and Lucy

As you can see, Team NaLu had no actual say in what their team name was and had to accept defeat. They consoled in the fact that Team Strawberry was it first.

Now, normal tag played by normal people was pretty simple: there's a team that's it, and they have to tag the other players. The first team to be tagged is the next "it" team. But Lucy forgot that her friends weren't exactly what one would call normal, which she remembered in the middle of being chased by Erza, who was wielding a sheathed (thank god) katana, though getting hit would still hurt.

Somehow, the rules of tag had been lost on these hooligans and they had created something much, much more dangerous. If Lucy had to guess, it was more like a cross between fencing, tag, and capture the flag.

Each team was allowed a sheathed sword, hence the fencing reference. They had to capture the other team's swords by tagging each team member with their own sword. It was definitely easier said than done.

Now back to being chased by Erza… it was pure hell. Erza wanted to win, as she always did, and no amount of training could protect Lucy when Erza swung. Hard. Natsu was nowhere to be seen though, giving Lucy some hope that her team wouldn't be it.

"I'm sure Jellal is after Natsu right now. Oh, and Lucy?" Erza said as she was about to turn and walk away.

"Yeah?"

"You can head to Natsu's room. Once I get everyone out, we'll regroup and pick the next 'it' person."

Lucy nodded and began her solemn and swordless walk of shame back to the room where she sat for about 5 more minutes before being joined by Juvia and Natsu. Another 10 brought the company of Gajeel, and finally Gray who had actually been hiding in that room was outed by Jellal.

"Lucy, pick a number from 1-4." Erza ordered.

"Uh..., 3?"

"Alright. Team Shrimp is 'it'. Good luck."

"Geehee."

This time, Natsu and Lucy coordinated on a plan that was simple, but effective.

Natsu would act as bait for Gajeel while Lucy stealthily stole his sword, which she had just found out was how the taggers lost.

Now, it would have worked if Natsu had not had the brilliant idea of doing a backflip. His foot slipped on the landing and he fell flat on his ass as Gajeel swung the sword.

Acting on instinct, Lucy jumped from her hiding spot and swung the katana down low. Now, she wasn't very experienced with this weapon, but she would have to adapt.

Somehow, by some sort of miracle, Gajeel stumbled to his left mostly out of surprise. He saw Lucy and sneered as she squared up, holding her sword out in front of her like she'd seen Erza do. He could tell she had little in this type of weapon with her hunched shoulders and awkward loom on her face.

He made the first move and feinted left before attacking to the right. Lucy caught on at the last second and did a quick squat, hearing the sound of his katana hitting the wall. She could tell that if it had connected, it would have hurt.

"C'mon, bunny girl. You can do better than that."

Lucy snarled. She was NOT a bunny girl. From her crouched position, she lunged forward and swung up. Gajeel had been expecting her to swing at one of his legs and howled in pain when the katana met its target.

Lucy snickered and swung her right leg out, knocking Gajeel to the ground where Natsu, who was biding his time, swooped in and grabbed his sword.

"Score!" Lucy cheered and held her hand out to high five Natsu, who didn't dare leave her hanging. He concluded that she was almost as dangerous with a katana as Erza.

WIth hope in their hearts, they went to go find Levy, but were too late. Levy had found them and sneaked an attack on them. Her hits were light, but they did their job and forced Natsu and Lucy to hand over their katana, only adding to the ever growing pile in Levy's hand. She was sneaky and obviously well read on strategies. Lucy bet that she would be a great runner if she wanted to.

"Well, you were the last ones. I knew that Gajeel would lose."

"Hey!" A pained voice shouted. "She hit the place and totally cheated."

Lucy smiled innocently. "I have no idea what you're talking about, but I wouldn't give your girlfriend any ideas…"

Levy and Lucy shared a smirk before reporting back to Natsu's bedroom, where she immediately flopped on the first bed she saw.

"Scooch over, Luce." Natsu whined and Lucy answered with her pretty much programmed answer.

"Go to your own bed Natsu."

"But this is my bed."

Lucy sighed and rolled over onto her back, giving Natsu room. Natsu eased himself onto the bed, groaning.

"Damn that backflip hurt."

Lucy looked at him, trying to ignore their close proximity.

"Well, it was a stupid idea in the first place, baka."

Gray, who was watching the whole thing with Levy and Juvia, couldn't help but comment.

"Well Lucy, he's your baka, isn't he?"

Levy joined in by making fake kissing noises, only to dodge two shoes heading her way. Gray was less lucky when Lucy's hit him in the face. Now, these were the shoes she wore when she went clearing with the team and the bottoms had touched a little dirt, blood, gore, dead things, and other stuff without being washed.

Gray gagged. "God Lucy. Wash your shoes for once!"

Lucy let out a yelp of indignance. "You watch your mouth. Otherwise, you might find a pile of dog shit under your pillow."

Erza cleared her throat, annoyed. "Lucy, Natsu… you just earned yourself the title of 'it' for slacking off."

Natsu and Lucy shared a look. How could anyone 'slack off' during a game? But, Erza's word was final.

The others set off, a katana is in each player's hand.

To be continued...

Happy second Anniversary to ME! and to all of my amazing readers! Hope you enjoyed the extra chapie which will be continued in the next chapter because its getting late and it seemed like a good place to stop.

Responses:

Ushindeshi: Yeah, its only the realization part for Lucy... I just wanted to include a wee bit more teasing. Hope you like it!

Poll:

So I was thinking of starting another story and I have a couple of ideas... Vote on your favorite:

- Pirate AU: Lucy is the pirate and kidnaps Prince Natsu and his guards (Jellal, Gray, and Gajeel)

- Bodyguard AU: Natsu is sent undercover to protect Lucy Heartfilia when she is threatened. But, she has no idea who he is and thinks he's just an exchange student

- Couples Retreat: Natsu and Lucy are invited to an island getaway. The catch: its for couples only and they aren't quite their yet. But, they must pretend in order to stay.

- Summer Camp AU: Lucy's father starts a summer camp to boost business and the whole gang are counselors. All 4 top ships.

Please give me your opinion on what you'd like to see! Ideas and Prompts are ALWAYS welcome