Lucy regretted walking to the party almost immediately. The six inch heels made her legs look amazing, and matched the dress so beautifully, but walking four blocks in them was like a form of high fashion sadistic torture. Who was she kidding? High fashion in general was basically just socially acceptable waterboarding.

The cars started clogging the streets, parallel parked as far as two blocks away from the party, people streaming in little groupings over the neighboring lawns in the best cheap skimpy costumes the internet had to offer. Lucy couldn't help but smile smugly as she joined them in her one-of-a-kind ensemble. The house itself, gothic in structure with statues of it's namesake displayed on either side of the door, was surrounded by a cloud of artificially created fog. Eerie outlines of giant perched birds, that could be vultures, ranged across the peak of the roof. Overall, it had taken on the look of an ancient haunted manor. Now she understood why Fairy Tail didn't bother with a Halloween party. Lamia was practically made for it. Not that she would admit to anyone but Levy that she knew Natsu's frat's party schedule like the back of her hand. She had her pride.

Speaking of Levy...Lucy pulled out her phone and texted the blunette.

Here! Where should I meet you?

Finally! We'll come out to meet you!

Lucy tucked her phone carefully back into the bodice of her dress and made her way towards the front door, so she'd be easy to find. Fiddling with a curl of her hair, left loose around her shoulders, she took a second to concentrate on Natsu, wondering how his night was going. It was loud where he was, a few voices yelling out things on top of each other that she couldn't make out. And someone sat on his lap. If he was gaming, she guessed he could have lost a bet and gotten squashed by someone again for a round. It wouldn't be the first time. If he was gaming, that is.

Natsu was uncharacteristically quiet as the packed car drove the few blocks to Lamia. He shifted as Lisanna's pelvic bone dug into his leg, lifting her weight off his lap with brisk hands on her waist before he lost the feeling in his fucking leg. She just turned and stuck her tongue out at him before continuing her conversation with her doppleganger sitting on Sting's lap in the front seat. When she had shown up with Sting (who the fuck had invited him and the emo kid anyway?) to drive with them, he had actually had to do a double-take, the new chick looked so much like his lesbian ex-girlfriend. And Lisanna had apparently found that appealing (the narcissist), because she had been flirting harder than a teenaged boy's dick at a professional volleyball tournament. Or really any volleyball tournament…

"So, Yukino," Lisanna purred, leaning over the seat and locking her feet around his calves to keep balanced on the edge of his knees in her furry bikini of a costume. Natsu might actually have cared that he had become a glorified chair for his ex-sex kitten if he wasn't so focused on how he was going to find his Weirdo when they got to the party. "Do you go to Magnolia U too?"

"I don't. I go to Cardia College, but I'm around MU campus a lot visiting the guys." The other petite, white haired woman responded, naming off a private Catholic college on the other side of Magnolia as she gestured to the freshman she was sitting on and the emo kid squeezed into the middle of Gray's backseat. "But I'm thinking of transferring. I'm not really that impressed with Cardia's pre-med program and I hear you guys just got a new state of the art 64-slice multidectetor CT for your lab students to use-"

"Come on Yuki, no one cares about that stuff but you!" Sting interrupted, tickling the girl's ribs and making her squirm on his lap. Lisanna frowned at him.

"Actually, I care. And I got to use that very piece of equipment to take a scan of one of the monkeys from our lab the other day. It was incredible!" Lisanna said, her voice losing its seductive tone, instead displaying genuine interest and excitement. Yukino twisted around and the two fell into a language of technical jargon that no one else in the car understood. With the exception of Natsu and Mystogan, everyone else in the car majored in something a lot less sciency. And neither of them had any interest in biology or anatomy.

Natsu would have bounced his legs in impatience if Lisanna hadn't been crushing them. How long could a few blocks take to drive anyway? Why hadn't he just fuckin' walked?! Stupid girls with their stupid impractical shoes.

After circling the block twice looking for a parking spot, Gray eventually decided to drop them off and then park (honestly just to get Natsu the fuck out of his car before he threw Lisanna out a window or something). Taking off in a quick stride, the pinkette turned pheonix made his way swiftly to the front door, carefully scanning the people on the front porch, but not finding his Weirdo among them. Taking a last fortifying breath, he plunged into the chaos that was Lamia on Halloween.

"Levy, wait up!" Lucy yelled, losing track of the blunette dressed as classic comic book Robin. Luckily she was accompanied by Gajeel, in disguise as Batman from The Dark Knight series, so Lucy could at least tell where they were heading by his ears sticking up above the crowd. But getting to them was proving to be more of an issue than she expected. Just as she saw an opening in the mass of humanity surging around her, and tried to dive through it, an arm swung around her waist and spun her around.

The swift motion made her dizzy and she stumbled, losing her footing and falling onto a broad chest, solid arms locking her in place. Her heart rate multiplied as she lifted her eyes to her captor. It was such a prince charming kind of moment. Maybe...And then her approaching smile melted away.

It was the asshole who had hit on her last week. With the stupid facial tattoo. Bora or something. How the FUCK had he found her so quickly in this crowd?! She was painted like a fucking phoenix and he had still tracked her down within minutes of her arriving.

Lucy got her feet solidly beneath her again and shoved hard against his chest, trying to free herself. But it only incited him to squeeze her closer, mimicking the push of the crowd pulsing around them. One hand slipped down and grabbed her ass.

Thoroughly done with his bullshit, she looped a foot around his ankle and yanked, sending them both crashing down, knocking over several other people on their way to the floor. Finally, people eased back, giving them room to breathe, and not so secretly hoping there was some drama to witness.

"You bitch! What the hell was that for?" the dark-haired perv yelled at her, finally releasing his hold on her. Staggering to her feet, she planted a heeled shoe on his crotch and stamped down with all her might.

All the color drained from his face as he squeezed his eyes shut and screamed, curling into the fetal position. The men watching all winced in sympathy. Lucy didn't pay them any attention. Her eyes made a handful of people wonder if phoenixes were considered birds of prey as she stared him down, breathing a little hard.

"You don't ever fucking touch me again, got it?" she spat and turned to stomp through the crowd, which, thankfully, moved to make a path for her this time.

Natsu had felt the hand squeeze her ass. He pushed harshly through the crowd, not caring who he was knocking over as he tried to figure out where she was. There was a commotion up ahead, but the spectacle had made the mass of humanity insurmountable. A solid wall of sexy pirates and superheroes divided him from his goal. People really sucked at thinking up original costumes apparently.

Eventually, the crowd broke up a little bit and he was able to press through to see a man curled up on the floor cupping his groin. Natsu grinned. It didn't take a rocket surgeon to figure out what had happened. He looked around him over the heads of the people surrounding the curled up man's small circle of space, desperate to see a flash of blonde hair. He felt a tap on his shoulder instead.

Natsu glanced behind him to see a very small blonde woman with very long wavy hair. Like, maybe it was a wig it was so damn long. She smiled at him.

"If you're looking for your lady phoenix, she went that way," she said, pointing a finger. His gaze followed her hand, seeing she was indicating the door to the outside. He turned back to say thank you, but the woman had disappeared back into the crowd. He glanced around trying to see where she had disappeared to so quickly, but with no luck. Shrugging, he made his way slowly to the back door of the house and eventually made it outside.

And came face to plant with a massive corn maze.

(Random story: A decade or so ago, an agriculture sciences major had borrowed the house's barren backyard for a class crop project. When they realized how much they saved on time mowing and on vegetables for the summer, they made it an annual thing. And, when harvest was done, the leftover stalks made the perfect attraction for their fall party. The field of dried corn filling the half acre behind the gothic house was surrounded by a stone wall with four gates at each of the compass points. The End.)

Natsu had fond memories of that maze, particularly during his freshman year. There was something weirdly appealing about literally chasing a woman who ran, but really wanted to be caught. Gods, he hoped that didn't mean he had some sort of suppressed rape fantasy or something. He had enough issues without worrying about shit like that. Taking a look around, he didn't see the flurry of red and gold he was looking for, so he approached the maze, clearing his throat to catch the attention of a gaggle of girls just outside it.

"Hey, have you guys seen-" Natsu cut off as they all pointed into the maze. He grinned in appreciation and headed into the maze. There were apparently perks to being painted identically with the person he was searching for.

Lucy hit another dead end. Huffing, she turned back the way she came, golden shoes dangling from her fingers. There was no one else out here so early in the night, but that was the appeal. After being groped in such a claustrophobic room, she could use a little time wandering around in a random corn field. She could always go hunt down Levy and Gajeel later, when she got tired of playing directionally challenged scarecrow.

So until the biting chill in the air got to her, she was going to enjoy the fresh night air and the wide expanse of stars above her. As she stared into the sky, she evened her breathing and practiced the meditation she had taken up shortly after 'meeting' Natsu. It always helped her access her bond with him. It seemed to be fairly quiet where he was too. She couldn't pick up on any smells, the strong earthy scent surrounding her probably too strong, covering up the nuances of his surroundings. He was breathing a little hard, walking at a fast pace. She smiled.

Lucy turned her gaze groundward once more and took off with new enthusiasm through the maze. She could hear rustling behind her, turning briefly to try and catch a glimpse of her pursuer. All she got was a flash of red through the stalks, but it froze her breath in her lungs.

She spun and broke into a run, concentrating on Natsu's feet as she felt his steps pick up pace in time with hers. The blonde let out a laugh, the little auditory bubble of effervescence bursting into the air around her. Lucy felt his heart skip at the sound of her laughter and called out into the air, for once, sure that he could hear her without help from their bond.

"I'll be waiting for you on the other side!" There was silence for a moment. And then his feet picked up pace.

"Not if I beat you there!" she heard a clear baritone ring out around her. Her heart hammered in her chest. That voice. The one she had heard in her head so many, many times. It sounded so much warmer in real life. So much...more, somehow.

"Never!" she declared with a full, unrestrained laugh. After months of being attached at more than the hip, she knew his competitive nature wouldn't let that stand. She felt Natsu's feet pick up pace again and she raced along, dropping a shoe, but leaving it behind, frantically going down new paths and recalculating when she hit dead-ends. Her breath burned in her throat as she sucked in cold air. The ground was cold under her toes, thankfully cleared of debris, but having long lost the warmth of the day's sun.

The rustling behind her intensified as he gained on her. The moon lit up her path, finally showing the gate out of the maze within sight, less than twenty feet away. She put forth a final burst of speed and had just laid a hand on the latch of the little wooden gate in front of her when…

"Wait!"

She froze. That voice could ask her to strip down and do the chicken dance, and she probably would. The only thing she had ever been able to deny him was her name. And when he stood less than ten feet behind her, she didn't think she would keep that secret long either.

Natsu stood paralyzed a few strides away from the woman who had become so very precious to him. His eyes slid over the wings of swirling feathers on her shoulders, down to the small of her back, all exposed by the short, tight dress she wore. The feathers at her hem swayed in the breeze threading it's way through the corn stalks, taunting and enticing as they brushed lightly against the backs of her thighs. She had thrown her hair up into a messy bun at some point, exposing a tiny curl of golden hair that stood out almost white on the nape of her neck against her red painted skin. He longed to reach out and curl it around his finger. She was mesmerizing, like a beast in the wild, untamed and majestic. The golden shoe he had swept up as he ran, barely clinging to his limp fingers, hit the ground with a muffled clatter that seemed to break the spell on them both. She dropped the matching shoe and brought her hand to her lips as her chest heaved with her adrenaline-fueled breaths. Then she finally spoke to him.

"Hi Natsu." She still faced away from him, but he could feel and hear her soft smile.

"Hi Weirdo," he replied, startling a laugh from her. She turned her head, meeting his eyes over her shoulder with her deep chocolate brown gaze. A gaze he had seen in his flashbacks and dreams from the moment they had bumped into each other at the train station. Her body followed her head, exposing the feathers he had so lovingly painted across her chest, arms and thighs.

"Its Lucy...actually," she said, her voice barely more than a whisper.

Aaaaaand, I'm evil. I know. Part Three, with lemony goodness will go up tomorrow. hehe.