I LIVE. Kinda, college still sucks and I'm moving in two months soooooo don't expect to hear from me until june ish, if then.
Where did any of this chapter come from, you may ask? I have no idea. This is just me doing wish fulfillment and building sexual tension that just won't get released for a while yet.
In other news, I have a playlist I listen to while writing this fic, and here it is in case you want www. youtube (com/) playlist?list=PLWor3oXXNIYlJQamDUmEL7H43Gsz_QGGk
The music nature made around her
Those first days traveling with the Thunder God Tribe were quite the experience. On one hand, there was never a boring moment, but on the other… well, Bickslow could be a lot to handle in large quantities, and never quite finished the blonde jokes. At least I gained some measure of amusement whenever I called Laxus Pikachu.
It was nice to have Evergreen with me. I love Erza and Wendy dearly, but neither are really girly in the same way I am. Evergreen, however, was more than happy to talk about clothes and makeup with me. Freed was equally enthusiastic to talk about books and the ins and outs of various types of magic.
Laxus seemed to keep himself held back from me, and at the time I couldn't really blame him. I was the interloper, the outsider invading what I slowly came to realize was a tight nit family. Every movement one took, the others were aware of. Evergreen tripped, and Freed caught her arm, Bix did a summersault on his dolls and Laxus shifted to the side, so he didn't get in the way. Bix would startle a laugh out of Ever, and his smile would become a little softer and a little less "mad psycho".
I couldn't really blame Laxus for not enjoying my presence, even if it did make me wonder why he had willingly invited me in the first place. I just chose to respect his distance and focused on the other things going on.
Like speaking with Toshiro Hitsugaya. Toshiro had developed a system based on the rhythm of pulses and the timing between them for us to communicate. One pulse from me to indicate I wanted to summon him, one back meant that was fine, two meant he couldn't come. Two from me indicated it was an emergency. Three from either party was a check in, an "are you alright?" type of thing. One back for yes, two for no. Simple, but it worked well and meant that, when I wanted to just summon him for training, I could ensure that I wasn't interrupting anything too important.
During this time, I also learned that shinigami have a sort of raw magic that allowed them to use certain spells called Kido. Like any time a Spirit used magic, I felt the drain on my power. That drain was nothing like when Toshiro used his shikai, however. The one time he did that, I had already summoned Capricorn and nearly passed out at the sudden strain on my magic. I resolved to grow my magic core until I could handle anything that the shinigami could throw at me.
Overall, I made progress with Toshiro, but it remained strange to travel with a group of people that I only vaguely knew. I pushed on, and I found myself growing to appreciate and enjoy my time with them. Evergreen was sweet and girlish beneath the elegance and pomp she wore like a fine dress, Freed enjoyed intellectual conversations of all sorts and even confided in me that he sometimes missed having discussions like this, as no one on his team was much for academic debates like I was. Bickslow made crappy jokes and bothered everyone equally in a genuine attempt to keep them all entertained. Laxus just watched on with amusement, but I could see the joy and affection in his eyes. When he wasn't sending lightning at Bix to get him to shut up, that is.
Despite Freed's best attempts, his basic first aid and healing runes could only help so much, so Lucy found herself with a huge bruise on her hip as she walked. This morning's round had been her and the Thunder Legion versus Laxus and she was still smarting from where she'd been launched into a tree.
"Hey, Ever, Bix," she called, curiosity getting the best of her. They both turned to look at her, cutting off their latest argument. "This might be horribly insensitive and feel free to tell me to mind my own business, but I was just wondering if your Stone Eyes and Seith Magic were genetic?"
They both faced forward and were silent for a few moments. Just as Lucy assured them that they really didn't have to answer, Evergreen shrugged.
"Supposedly it is." She gave a smile, but Lucy thought she saw bitterness in her brown eyes. "I was raised in an orphanage, so I don't actually know my birth parents."
"Oh," Lucy frowned, "I'm sorry." She still missed her mom dearly, but at least she had known her mother. Evergreen hadn't even gotten that much.
"It's fine. I made my peace with it a long time ago." Evergreen's shoulders were tense, and she didn't look away from where her eyes were set on the horizon. Lucy didn't push it.
Bix was just as quiet, and Lucy worried to see him frowning instead of wearing his usual mad grin. "Seith Magic is actually considered a birth defect," he admitted quietly.
"What? But that's terrible!"
He shrugged, standing on his dolls and allowing them to float him forward. "Back before the countries were civilized and magic was recognized as a gift and not a curse, a magic so powerful that it permanently marked a child was considered a bane, a defect. Especially one that, when untrained, meant the death of anyone who was looked in the eye. We still don't know what causes Seith Magic, only that it's extremely rare." He kept frowning, his hands playing with where he kept his helmet on his belt when he didn't have to wear it. Lucy knew the look of someone lost in the past, and she didn't like it one bit.
"Well, it's a good thing Fairy Tail isn't so stupid." She huffed, scowling. "Honestly, people can be so moronic sometimes. As if natural magic is anything but a blessing. Most work their entire lives to learn magic and it still isn't as powerful as natural magic."
Bix looked back at her and grinned. "Aw, Cosplayer. You're so sweet to me." He waggled his eyebrows and Lucy glared.
"Shut it, Bix. Why do you have to go and ruin the moment?"
Laxus woke when the sun peaked over the horizon. They'd entered Bosco a week ago and were making good time, though the trees surrounding them made him itch. Too many spots to hide, too many places for someone to get ambushed. He liked the natural sounds of forests, but he preferred open land, where he could better watch his surroundings.
A great example would be this, right now. As he looked around their camp, he could see only three shapeless lumps that indicated his teammates. Blondie was missing. With a sharp inhale, he turned on his heels and headed deeper into the forest. A stream sat a few minutes away, and he could smell her from that direction. Probably getting water. He thought she'd be okay, but he wanted to double check that she had left of her own free will first.
As he got closer, he started to make out a voice, and what he saw when he cleared the tree line and stood on the edge of a little clearing surprised him. Facing him was Blondie, sat cross-legged on the ground in front of the stream with one of her Spirits next to her. A goat man, of some kind. Clearly meditating, but Laxus was surprised by the sheer magic power he could feel coming from her. A golden sphere surrounded her, so large it nearly filled the entire clearing.
"Hold it, Miss Lucy. Breathe, in and out. Hear the rustle of the leaves, the way the grass tickles your legs. Feel the wind through your hair. Continue to breathe, in and out. The world continues around you, but you have to focus on your magic as well. The way it flows through your veins, the power it gives your limbs." The goat man gave Laxus a look, clearly telling him to keep still and quiet. As if Laxus would interrupt this.
The air was thick with her magic, bright golden and warm. It glowed brighter for a second, and Lucy was hallowed in her own power, blonde hair seemingly glowing. Her Spirit was glowing, his owner's power clearly filling him.
"Good, Miss Lucy. Hold it for the count of ten now. Ten, nine, eight-" there was a warble in the magic, a ripple that made Laxus think it would collapse, but it stabilized in the next moment. "Seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one. Good. Now, bring it in slowly. Wrap it around yourself like a well-loved cloak." The sphere slowly shrunk, and Laxus saw it wrap around her. She glowed brighter for a moment, and Laxus felt his breath catch as her full power was concentrated in a single place. A blind rat would feel the sheer power in her. No wonder she could keep up with a monster like Erza.
As Lucy brought the power back into her, Laxus stepped back into the tree line so she wouldn't see him. No need for her to think he was a creepy stalker or something. When he heard her dismiss the Spirit- Capricorn- he made sure to step on a twig with a loud snap. She was standing when he walked out, his hands in his pockets.
"There you are, Blondie."
She gave him a glare, the same one that always said 'good morning to you, jerk' every time he failed to say good morning. Honestly, he found it amusing how she had a glare for something so small and inconsequential. Still, at this point he just kept doing it for kicks.
"Hey, Laxus. What are you doing up so early?"
"I was going to get everyone up so we could start moving, but then I noticed you were gone." He raised a brow, "I prefer not waking up to a missing teammate."
She rolled her eyes and headed over to him. While dirt and grass clung to her, he could still make out the fruit and lavender scent of her soap. Too bad Salamander's scent still hung onto her, even if it slowly faded. It wasn't lost on Laxus that his team's scent slowly overpowered her own's. Funny, how constant interaction with people for two weeks could affects someone.
By the time they'd returned, the others were already waking. Bix took one look at them, walking side by side out of the thick forest, and opened his mouth.
Only to shut it as he was forced to dodge several rapid bolts of lightning from Laxus. He scrambled to his feet, grinning brightly.
"Well, good morning then! Shall we get going?" Laxus rolled his eyes, and helped them pack everything up except for the bread and cheese they would eat for breakfast while walking.
Laxus didn't really mind long days of travel. It gave him time to lose himself in his music, or to watch his team interact with each other. It was nice to see their smiles again, nice to know that they were back in Fairy Tail. He didn't mind their time spent in Blue Pegasus, but it wasn't home.
This mission would be interesting, if only because the very idea of a different dimension, like Edolas, was interesting. Besides, Laxus figured that if this Kenpachi Zaraki guy was so tough, he might be a good fight. And he didn't really mind helping Blondie. Though, considering that showing from this morning, he was pretty sure she would do just fine on her own. She managed to hold her own in the morning spars, winning about a third of the time. He had once wondered how she survived the crazy shit Team Natsu got involved in, but then he'd seen her at the Grand Magic Games and thought that she had some serious balls. Now, after over an entire year from that point, she was even stronger.
As they walked, Laxus vaguely wondered what the effect of traveling with her would be.
When they stopped for the night in another forest clearing, Laxus settled against a tree, letting the firelight lull him. Between Blondie and Ever, they managed to make some sort of stew over the fire and Bickslow's low humming relaxed them.
"Here." Startled, Laxus drew his eyes away from the fire to find Lucy smiling down at him, a bowl of something smelling delicious in her hands.
He took it, and managed to shoot her a thankful look. She smiled, before settling on the ground next to him. A part of him wanted to shift away- she still smelled faintly like Natsu- but he managed to squash the urge.
Bickslow whistled. "Damn, Cosplayer. This is delicious."
"Evergreen helped."
"Yeah, but I know what her cooking taste like. This must be all you." Ever squawked and threw an extra bowl at his head. Laxus smirked, but couldn't help but agreeing. Ever was a decent cook, but for something made over a fire in the middle of the forest, this was on a whole other level. He could only assume that she had brought herbs with her.
"Uh, thanks." She blushed, and played with her food for a moment. "I used to sneak down to the kitchens at night to teach myself to cook. Once the head cook found out, he would help me."
"You had to sneak out to teach yourself to cook?" Bix asked.
"Well, yeah." She snorted, and rolled her eyes. "'A lady does not cook'. That's what my dad used to say. Apparently, it took away from my studies in business and management." She smiled sheepishly, and Laxus noticed her blush deepen in the firelight. "I mostly just did it to prove I could."
Ever laughed brightly and handed out seconds. "Well, I actually hate cooking. Used to be part of my chores in the orphanage. And because I was the oldest, I had to teach others after I reached my teens."
"Better than dance and decorum lessons," Lucy shot back.
"Maybe."
They faded to silence and Freed and Bix started washing the dishes. Laxus brought out the sleeping bags and pillows passing them around before adding more wood to the fire. It was peaceful, and soon Laxus stayed sitting and awake, the crackling fire his only company.
Above them, the canopy opened to a star filled sky. He couldn't spot the moon, but he didn't mind so much. Quiet moments like this, with the deep breathing of his team and the sounds of nature taking up the background made him really appreciated how far he'd come. Compared to two years ago- nine technically- he'd grown a lot. Thinking back to how he'd acted, what he had done, made him flinch. At least he would always have his guildmates to knock some sense back into him.
"The stars are beautiful, aren't they?" He twisted, eyes snapping to where Lucy had her sleeping bag next to him. He had thought she was asleep like the rest.
"Yeah." She rolled her eyes, and Laxus could almost swear that her eyes seemed to say, 'great conversationalist, as usual'.
"Do you know the constellations?" she asked quietly.
"Some." She waited quietly, and Laxus figured he could stop being an ass for a little while. That was the whole point of growing up and leaving the guild. To do better. To be better. "Jiji used to take me up to the roof and show me the stars. He taught me a few." He didn't add that those were the nights that he woke up gasping for breath, that it felt like his chest was collapsing and air seemed to be a far off dream. Those quiet nights on the roof watching the stars had stopped after Laxus had gotten his Lacrima.
"Well," Blondie sat up, and pointed to a bright line of stars, "That's Orion. According to legend, he spied on the goddess Artemis while she was bathing, and as a punishment, she summoned a scorpion to kill him. Afterwards, she put both Orion and Scorpio in the stars so everyone would remember that she wasn't one to be messed with."
Laxus gave a low whistle. "Never heard that before. You have Scorpio, don't you? Have you asked him if there's any truth to it?"
"I do have his Key. But I once asked Taurus if the legends about the forming of the stars were true, and he told me that Celestial Spirits don't have memories of before they became constellations."
Laxus made a low humming sound to acknowledge her, but she didn't seem to mind his lackluster response as she just continued pointing out stars and telling him the stories behind them.
Spending a quiet night under the stars wasn't so unusual for Laxus. Having someone there to accompany him was, however. Still, he found himself not minding Lucy's steady presence, or soft voice. Scent of Salamander aside.
The next morning, Laxus woke to Blondie missing again. After seeing her magic though, he was more inclined to leave her be. Besides, she was a grown woman and wasn't even a real member of his team. She could take care of herself.
A mistake, considering that half an hour later she still hadn't returned. Grumbling about troublesome tag-alongs, he headed towards the small creek that was on the other side of the trees. A few steps away, he heard a yelp and rushed forward, worried that she got herself in trouble.
He was, of course, right. Dripping with water and utterly naked, Blondie was being held by a forest Vulcan, her arms pinned to her side and her Keys and whip clearly laid out on a pile of clothes on a rock out of the way.
"Let me go!"
"Hehe, woman."
"Pervert!" She kicked back, but the Vulcan held her away from his body, so it did little besides show off her long legs.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Laxus grumbled. In a single swift movement, a bolt of lightning struck the Vulcan and Laxus jumped to catch Blondie before she could injure herself further. Unfortunately, water conducts electricity, so by the time the Vulcan let go, lightning danced over Blondie's skin. She gasped, back arching in Laxus's arms.
"Sorry, Blondie." The lightning faded, and Laxus was left holding a hundred pounds of dripping blonde girl, shuddering in his arms.
"'S'alright," she muttered, body going lax, "Didn't actually strike me, just skated over my skin." She shuddered again, and Laxus furrowed his brows. He knew the feeling- as it often happened to him whenever his emotions got too strong- and usually all it did was raise the hairs on his arm and tickle a little. Perhaps this was a case where he was just desensitized to the feeling.
He was about to ask if she was alright when she looked up and blinked at him. Her face very quickly went beat red.
"Ah!" In the most ungraceful movement Laxus had ever seen, ever, she flailed and kneed him in the stomach. He dropped her and she scuttled backwards, arms across her chest. That does very little, Laxus wanted to say, before he decided that he would like to keep his balls. With a huff, he turned around and faced the tree line.
"Just hurry up and get dressed woman." There was rustling, and Laxus figured she did as asked. "What the hell were you even doing? You bathed last night." He knew she had, because Ever had threatened the guys with disembowelment if any of them so much as turned away from the fire, before disappearing towards the creek with Blondie in tow.
"I did hand to hand training with Capricorn, and I was sweaty. I didn't exactly expect to get attack by a Vulcan."
"You should've had your Keys on you. Or hell, summoned the squirt." There was a sharp intake of breath.
"That squirt's name is Hitsugaya. And I was handling it. I didn't ask for your help."
Laxus scowled. Figured she wouldn't even bother thanking him for saving her sorry ass. An ass he suddenly had a very good mental picture of. Ugh, now he felt like a pervert. Not that she could blame him, considering it was her fault anyway.
"Fine. Next time, I'll let the giant lecherous monkey have you." There was the clinking of Keys, and Laxus assumed she had finished getting dressed. He stomped away, ignoring the dark muttering that followed him.
When they returned to camp, it was to find everything packed up and the Thunder Legion waiting for them with frowns.
"Is everything alright, Laxus-sama?" Freed asked.
Laxus grumbled, gave a sharp command to start moving, and turned up his music. This is what happens when he tries to help. A kick to the stomach and complaints. Next time, he really would just leave Blondie to deal with her own mess.
Of all the… Lucy fumed silently to herself, ignoring her burning face. She hated it when she somehow always ended up nude, or mostly nude, in fights with her own team, but with Laxus it somehow got worse. She hadn't meant to be reckless, and she certainly hadn't intended to get in trouble with a Vulcan. Perverts, the lot of them, she thought viciously. Sometimes, she really hated being as cute as she was, because it made it so much easier for people to objectify and degrade her.
And Laxus! Just showing up and hitting the damn monkey with lightning while she was right there. Did he want to kill her?
A strange tingle went down her back and she shuddered at the memory of his lightning dancing along her skin. It had felt strange, like long nails lightly dusting across her skin, but so much stronger. But… it wasn't a bad strange. Just strange.
Ignoring her burning face and waving off Evergreen's curious eyes, she trudged down the road, eyes glued to the horizon.
She was so not going down that road. Great muscles and hair aside, Laxus was not someone she wanted to even consider getting involved with. He was closed off and snappish, and clearly had no sense of privacy. Besides, they had nothing in common. Clearly, she was just getting desperate and that was not something to let herself slip into.
He also came and saved me, another part of her said mutinously. Which, he did. But she hadn't needed saving. She would've summoned Toshiro if she hadn't been able to get out herself, and she would have. She was capable, damnit.
And when exactly did I get so against being saved? She wondered. Natsu and her team saved her all the time. Not that they'd been around much lately. She'd had to learn to save herself over this past year, had to learn to fight well enough that she would never be put into a position similar to Tartarus ever again. Well, I saved them then, she remembered. Perhaps that was where this started. Lucy had been put into a position where the only person who could save herself had been her. She missed Aquarius dearly, but she couldn't really regret her choice since it had saved the lives of her friends. In the end, she was proud of herself for having the strength to do that. And she hadn't really required saving since.
Until she made a stupid mistake and let her guard down in unfamiliar territory. Lucy had thought she was fine because she was only a little way from camp and had grown over the past year. At nineteen, she could damn well do what she wanted. Yet she had still needed Laxus. He hadn't even hesitated to catch her when she was falling, and had even looked away when she had become so very aware of her nudity.
And she hadn't even thanked him.
Mulling over her thoughts occupied her all the way until they stopped for lunch. While Ever passed sandwiches to Freed and Bix, Lucy made her way to where Laxus leaned against a large boulder.
"Here." He took it without a word, but Lucy settled herself next to him, nonetheless. He had been scowling all morning, his Sound Pods set so loudly she could just make out the notes. He must be blowing out his sensitive eardrums. "Look," she picked at her sandwich, nibbling on some of the soft bread they'd gotten from the town they'd passed through yesterday. "I just wanted to say thank you." He didn't look her way, but his shoulders stiffened a bit, so she knew he heard. He must have turned down the music at some point. "While I'm not a huge fan of you seeing me naked, you did save me back there. So, thanks." Glancing up under her lashes, she saw him turn to face her a little more directly. He didn't speak, but Lucy was close enough to feel his shoulders loosen and he tipped his head to her. 'You're welcome', he seemed to say. "And I'm sorry about kicking you."
They sat in silence for a little longer, eating lunch and watching as Freed and Ever got in an argument and Bix played devil's advocate to whatever the topic was.
"I'm not going to stop training," Lucy said suddenly. Laxus paused in his eating.
"Normally I'd be supportive. But normally I don't have to worry about my teammates getting eaten by pervert apes."
"I'll be more careful, but I won't stop." He opened his mouth, but she glared at him and continued. "I'm nineteen years old, you can't stop me."
He scowled, but Lucy was already standing up straighter and taking a step towards Evergreen.
"Blondie." Laxus waited for Lucy to turn to him before saying, "You get hurt again, and I'll be the one training you." Paling, Lucy nodded and hurried away.
Considering the crap she'd seen Laxus do during sparring matches, not to mention the way he and the guys worked out in the evenings, she had no interest in being trained by him.
Ever.
The next week passed slowly and a strange pattern seemed to emerge. Lucy would sneak away right before dawn- not that she was actually trying to sneak- to meditate and Laxus- who was most certainly sneaking, but not stalking damnit- would follow to make sure she didn't injure herself. Or get involved with a perverted gorilla. Either was possible.
Most mornings they would have a quick sparring match, Lucy using Toshiro only once out of every three or four days. The match ups changed on a day to day bases, but Lucy was slowly starting to get a feel for the Thunder God Tribe's fighting style. They would eat breakfast on the road, before spending the day walking. They would stop for lunch and a short break, before continuing on. They hit a town every two days or so, where they would rent two hotel rooms and all shower and have a good night's rest. The nights they spent outside, the guys would workout while Lucy and Evergreen made dinner. Freed and Bix would clean up and Laxus would gather wood for the fire. Laxus tended to stay up late and sleep lightly to keep a lookout, and Lucy would stay up late to watch the stars.
Lucy found herself laughing with them, joining Evergreen in kicking Bix's ass when he made stupid jokes, debating the pros and cons of books with Freed. Having quiet moments in the night where she would tell the stories of the constellations to Laxus. He only ever made a few comments, usually on the stupidity of some of them, but was always a good listener. Lucy enjoyed herself greatly, and didn't even mind the constant eyes she felt on her when she left to train in the mornings. Laxus was always back in the camp, waking the others up and packing things away by the time she returned, but she had no doubt that he came to watch. It made her blush when she thought of it, but she supposed that he didn't trust her not to get in trouble. Considering what happened, she couldn't really blame him.
The only issue was the weather. Bosco was known for its storms, and as they were sticking to its Southern border, just skirting around the mountains, they were likely to get hit harder as it approached storm season.
One day, before they stopped for lunch, Laxus ordered shortly, "We keep moving. I can smell a storm coming and I want us in the next town before it hits." None of them complained, and they munched on some nuts as they continued walking. They had just stepped into the town- a small thing filled with square, stone buildings, the tallest being a three story church across the street from the only hotel- when thunder boomed and lightning arched across the sky. It began pouring, and they hurried in, but Lucy couldn't help noticing Laxus grinning.
Later that night, after Evergreen had already fallen asleep, Lucy slid out of bed. The windows rattled and the building shook with the forced of the thunder. Wearing her own grin, she dug through her bag quietly until she came up with a smoky grey bikini, a yellow bandana that she wrapped around her breasts, and light weight piece of purple fabric that she tied like a skirt around her waist- the colors of Bosco. She had been hoping for a storm like this, and had brought the things she would need. Fiore rarely got weather like what she wanted, so she hadn't had a chance to do this for very long time.
Ensuring she didn't wake Evergreen, Lucy quietly exited her room, then the hotel itself. She wanted to be close to the sky, to feel the thunder reverberate through her body like her mother had shown her. The one floor hotel wasn't good for that.
The sun had long since set, and the sky hovered, grey and black with clouds. Nonetheless, Lucy could still see by the purple and gold lightning flashing above. When she got to the back of the church, she noticed several minor ledges going up the wall. They were too far for her to jump to but-
In a flash, she had Loke's Key out and he appeared in golden light. "Been a while, Princess. I'm almost offended you haven't used me in your spars against Bickslow." Between the wind and rain, everything was so loud that he had to stand close and speak into her ear for her to understand him. She huffed and smiled.
"Maybe next time. For now, can you get me to the roof?" He looked at her like she was crazy, before taking in her outfit. His eyes softened and he nodded before picking her up. Lucy loved her Spirits. They knew her, even parts of her she hasn't shared with anyone else, so Loke understood why she wanted to do this.
In a few jumps, he had them on the flat roof, parapets surrounding them. "Thanks, Loke. You can go now."
"You sure you don't want me to stay?"
"Yeah." She smiled and waved to him as he faded.
Alone, Lucy looked around. There was a full wall on one end that appeared to be part of a small shed, that looked like it had an overhang, but otherwise the roof was solid stone, glistening with rain. Another boom of thunder hit, and she grinned at the sound. Walking to the center of the space, she closed her eyes and just focused on the storm around her. The sharp sting of rain pelting her bare skin, the rumble of thunder and crackling of lightning, the smell of ozone and fresh rain dancing in the air. She focused on the beat of the water on stone, on the music the wind made as it whistled through the air, the drumbeat of thunder. Lucy took another deep breath, focusing on the music nature made around her.
And then she moved.
Laxus loved storms. And he especially loved Bosco storms. They were loud, they were fierce, the were filled with the best lightning he'd ever tasted. No one on his team ever complained when he chose missions that had them going through Bosco, despite it meaning they often had to trek through bad weather. It was hard to find lightning to snack on, and they knew it.
As was his custom during one of these storms, he found himself on the tallest building in town, staring at the sky. It was a simple matter to teleport up and materialize just in time to suck the bolt of energy in. If any of the towns' people thought it was strange that arcs of lightning were cut short, they would just have to deal. Laxus liked to be higher than this- during the handful of storms Magnolia got every year, he would sit on the cathedral- because it meant less travel to get to his dinner, but he would make due.
He had just returned from getting a purple monstrosity of energy, landing on the flat roof of the church, when he noticed a figure moving towards the center of the area. Putting his back to the wall, he stayed still in the shadows. It took a moment to discern the figure from the sheets of rain, but he soon realized he was staring at Lucy. Blondie stood there for a moment, and he noticed her bizarre outfit. Yellow bandana, purple half skirt that left one leg bare and hung to the knee on the other, and no shoes.
Idiot, Laxus thought. Before he could move to drag her back inside before she caught her death, though, she started shifting. It took a second, but Laxus realized she was dancing. Hips rolling and feet moving only a few inches as her arms made graceful, sweeping movements. The long, slow moves were mixed with sharp, short ones, her feet falling apart as she dropped her upper body down so she was squatting while bending in half, before sweeping back up and her hips falling again into that steady beat that only she could hear. Blondie took a few steps, sending her body into an elegant spin around an invisible circle, arms crossed over her head in a strange belly dance. When she stopped, she twisted her feet a few inches to the right, then left, one arm crossing over her chest and the other seeming to push away at something as her back arched. She stood with a snap that was echoed by thunder.
Traditional Bosconian dance, Laxus realized. Jiji had made sure he knew his history, and he'd read about the dances Bosco natives had often practiced during storms to celebrate the rain. They were still done today, but usually only in festivals. So how did Blondie know it?
Thunder rumbled and in the flash of lightning that followed, Laxus could clearly see as she clapped each of her elbows and twisted her hips in time to the roar. The wind picked up and she didn't even falter, one arm rising above her head to circle in the air while the other stayed extended in front of her as she moved back.
Laxus knew that the dance was made up of harsh, quick moves, mixed with slower, extended moves to represent the components of the storm; thunder, lightning, rain and wind. Yet he had never thought that a dance to represent something that was unbridled power could be so… elegant. Sharp movements aside, Lucy had a captivating smooth grace about her that Laxus hadn't expected.
As Laxus watched her dance, sharp eyes keeping track of her even in the rain, lightning flashed across the sky, untouched.
Lucy wanted to see how long she could keep going. The traditional dances of Bosco weren't exactly high speed, but they did take energy to keep in constant movement. She knew her mother had once gone on for two hours, and Lucy thought she might be able to get close to that if she kept her breathing even and focused on the energy in the air, rather than the energy she was expending.
She twirled, stopping abruptly when thunder filled the air and she snapped her forearms together before extending them upward and swaying with a huge gust of wind. She stepped back, ignoring the pinching in her feet from the hard stone. Her vision was getting disrupted, but she didn't care much, just kept with the movements. Because of her lack of vision she didn't notice the small, rain slicked pebble, or how she had gotten dangerously close to the low parapets. She took another step back, and put her weight down, beginning to arch her back. With only a second to realize what was happening, her leg slid out from under her and her uneven weight was sent flying back. Before she could reach for Loke's Key, she felt a rough, callused hand grab her wrist and pull her back up. Lucy startled to find herself being caught by Laxus.
"Laxus?" she asked in surprise. He raised an unimpressed eyebrow and said something, but the storm had gotten even louder, and she couldn't make him out. "I can't hear you."
He rolled his eyes but pulled her over to the small overhang she had noticed earlier. It blocked out a little of the howling wind, but they were still getting soaked. Not that Lucy cared considering she was already wet, and her hair and clothes were already clinging to her. Laxus drew her closer, wrapping an arm around her waist when she lost her balance. Blushing brightly, she held still as he positioned their heads so they could talk into each other's ears. Lucy very seriously didn't think about how Laxus wore his black pants and absolutely nothing else, or how in this position she could feel every inch of his surprisingly smooth, rain slicked muscles. And she was most certainly not thinking about the warmth radiating from him or the way lightning sparked over his shoulders.
"If you're going to do a dance like that, you should've done it somewhere that you wouldn't risk fallen and breaking your neck."
"I would've summoned Loke first!" The rest of his words registered, and she blushed even brighter. "Wait, you saw me?"
"This is a lightning storm, Blondie, and this is the highest building in town. I've been out here since we checked in." Dragon Slayer, right.
"It must be hard to eat your element," she mused quietly. He snorted, and Lucy took that as a yes. Now that she wasn't moving, the rain was soaking into her skin and she shivered. Laxus pulled back enough to look at her and frown, before he tugged her closer against his chest and turning them, pushed her against the stone wall- that had heat coming from it, she realized. Must be where they kept their heating Lacrima- and putting himself between her and the howling wind. Actually, Laxus put himself between her and everything, because she couldn't see past him.
God, had his shoulders always been so broad? And why did she have to be nearly a foot shorter than him?
He used one arm to brace himself on the wall next to her head, but the other stayed wrapped around her waist. As he shifted, the lightning that had been lightly dancing across his skin- probably a side effect of the storm- skated down his arm and sent shots across her back. She suppressed a moan at the warm prickles and just prayed that Laxus couldn't see her burning face in the darkness.
Laxus seemed to freeze suddenly, and Lucy peered at him curiously. If it wasn't for the lightning that flashed across the sky right then, she wouldn't have been able to see anything. As it was, she could just make out his flared nostrils, and eyes lingering on her face darkening with… something. He leaned forward, and for half a second Lucy thought he might actually kiss her, but he abruptly moved his head to the side and spoke into her ear. Relieved, she listened.
"Where did you learn one of the traditional dances for Bosco?"
Surprised, she asked, "How did you know what it was?" He pulled back enough to shoot her a look that clearly said, 'I was educated' and she rolled her eyes at him. "Okay, point taken." Her heartbeat calmed down, and she leaned back to get a little comfier. Not that a stone wall with two-hundred pounds of hard muscle blocking her in counted as comfy. "My mother was a native to Bosco. She taught the dance to me before she died." She shrugged, but smiled a little. "Dad freaked when he found out. Said a lady doesn't dance like a barbarian. Mom told him that if I was going to respect the status giving to me by him, I would damn well learn the traditions of my mother's side as well. I had to sneak out as a kid to do it after she died, but it's my way of being closer to her." He nodded, and Lucy took a moment to appreciate the strangeness of the situation. She had never told Team Natsu that, mainly because it had never come up. Yet here she was, pinned against a wall in the middle of a huge thunderstorm, explaining something to Laxus of all people.
Still, he had saved her from falling and potentially hurting herself, so she supposed it was a good thing he ate lightning and had come out for a midnight snack.
"Hey, Pikachu," while she couldn't see his face because she was speaking into his ear, she could feel the glare he shot at her. She smirked, pleased that something so innocuous could get under his skin. "Why did you choose lightning as your element?"
He paused, and Lucy waited patiently. She had been noticing that he wasn't much for big speeches, but preferred to use body language with short statements for communication. "My mother was a lightning mage, but she died during my birth, so I never met her. When Ivan," Lucy wasn't even surprised that he didn't call him 'father', "Decided that I needed to have a Lacrima implanted, I begged him to make it a lightning one. It was about the only time he actually listened to me." She felt his entire body shrug, and figured that this was his way of being closer to his mom. At least her death so early on would explain why Lucy had never heard of her. It was sad, that Laxus had never met her. Perhaps if she had helped raised him, the Battle of Fairy Tail never would've taken place.
"You know," she said softly, "My mother used to tell me that the stars watched over me. But one day, when the sky was super cloudy, I asked if that meant they couldn't see me. So, she took me outside, and told me to point out where the constellations would be if I could see them. By the time I had finished all the ones I knew, there was a patch of clear sky with stars shining through. She said to me, 'simply because you cannot see something, does not mean it's not there. The stars will watch over you, whether you see them or not. Just like I will, izar.' She died a month later, but her words stayed with me. I guess what I'm trying to say is, your mom is probably watching over you still."
"Star?" Laxus asked quietly. Lucy didn't even know why she was surprised. Of course, Laxus knew Basque, Bosco's native language. While a continental language was developed around the time the kingdoms began interacting with each other, each country still had a native tongue.
"It's what she would call me. And how many languages do you know?"
He huffed a laugh, and Lucy blushed again at the warm sound. "Three, not including the continental language. Japanese, Basque, and Serbian." The native tongues for Fiore, Bosco, and Seven respectively. Lucy only knew Basque and Japanese, but it was nice to know she had a teammate that could speak the original language of Seven, Fiore's biggest ally.
Temporary teammate, she reminded herself. She was still a member of Team Natsu, even if she was joining up with the Thunder God Tribe for now. Even if she enjoyed herself immensely.
"Jiji," Laxus said quietly, and Lucy refocused immediately. It seemed like a rare thing that Laxus shared anything personal, and she wouldn't disgrace it by being distracted. "Used to tell me stories about my mother. Ivan refused to speak of her, so Jiji took it upon himself to show me pictures and tell me stories. He once told me that she would go out and sit in the middle of thunderstorms, just watching the sky and redirecting the lightning if it came too close. He said that if she had lived, she probably would've taken me out there too."
"My mother used to sing me a lullaby on the eighty-eight constellations. Told me it had been passed down the Heartfilia line for generations." He gave her a questioning look and she explained, "The Heartfilia name is passed through women. My mother once said that if I didn't find a guy willing to take my last name, then he clearly wasn't good enough to marry."
His lips twitched, and he murmured, "Your mother sounds like she would've fit into Fairy Tail."
"Yeah," Lucy grinned, eyes softening at the thought. "I think she would be proud of me for finding such a crazy family and maintaining my sanity."
Laxus laughed loudly, and Lucy found it only mildly creepy when thunder echoed it. "What makes you think you have any remaining sanity?" She huffed and slapped his shoulder, but he just kept smirking. Her eyes were drawn to his bare shoulder, though, which brought up another question.
"Why did you get those tattoos? They look tribal."
"I have no idea what they mean," he said, eyes sliding over the black markings. "But Jiji had a picture of my mother in a swimsuit, and I could see that she had the same ones. Jiji said that he knew they were a family thing for her, but that she had never said what they represented or what they were for." He rolled his shoulders, loosening them from what Lucy realized must be a horribly uncomfortable position for him. "I got them when I was sixteen, after Ivan was kicked out of the guild."
Lucy nodded, and offered another memory of her mother. The storm eventually calmed down to a gentle rain, but they just stood there, held closely together and exchanging pieces of what they knew about their families. Small pieces of the past that didn't mean much in the bigger picture but that they held close to their hearts. It was so late that Lucy was barely paying attention to what she was saying, and they were both tired enough that their lips were looser than usual, but not so exhausted that they wanted to stop. Lucy confessed to being terrified of being enslaved, of having her choices taken away from her either by magic or simply by virtue of someone threatening her friends. Laxus murmured that his greatest fear was accidentally hurting his friends again, when he'd been trying so hard to keep them safe. They exchange stories of the year Fairy Tail was disbanded, and how Lucy had used modeling as a step into Sorcerer Weekly so she could start writing. How Laxus had joined Blue Pegasus and was extremely uncomfortable with the way everyone seemed fine with just having a bunch of women around to ogle at them.
It was strange, to offer so much to someone she barely knew. Yet, in their little bubble of calm, Lucy couldn't really bring herself to regret it.
When Lucy yawned twice in the space of a minute, with her eyes dropping, Laxus decided it was time for bed. Scooping her up, bridal style, he ignored her protests and used his lightning to teleport to the roof of their hotel. By the time he was popping open the door and entering, her eyes had fluttered close and she had relaxed fully against his bare chest. Very certainly not thinking about the way her already revealing outfit clung to her, accentuating her generous curves and long legs.
When he got to her room, he gently shook her to wake her up. She was still bleary eyed, but she managed to stay on her feet and crack open the door.
"Change before you pass out," he ordered. "You'll slow us down if you get sick."
She nodded through another yawn and waved to him. "'Night, Pikachu. P'mise I won't slow us down. We c'n leave b'ight 'n e'rly."
He huffed, and pushed her gently into her room. Honestly, she was slurring worse than Cana. "Goodnight, Blondie."
Laxus entered his own room, taking a moment to register Freed's soft breaths and Bix's snores as he pulled off his soaking pants and changed into a clean pair of boxers after drying off. With that out of the way, he collapsed onto his bed, letting his back muscles loosen against the coarse fabric of the hotel sheets. He closed his eyes, but Lucy's face flashed through his mind, cheeks tinged pink, lips parted, and water clinging to her eyelashes.
When he had placed her against the warm wall, he had made sure to hold onto her so she would keep her balance. He'd been close enough that, even with the rain and ozone filling his nose, he could make out the barely-there arousal that appeared around her. He had been so surprised that he had frozen, and with the way she had looked at him… he had been about a second away from throwing all common sense to the wind and kissing her despite it being a horrible, horrible idea, when the air had cleared for a second and he had made her scent out beneath the storm. Fruit and lavender, with a distinct hint of fire and smoke hanging around. She still smelled of Salamander, even when it had been at least a month since she had last seen him. Dragon scents lasted longer, a bonus when it came to marking one's territory, but it was also a warning. Luckily, it had knocked some sense into Laxus before he did something monumentally stupid.
It was one thing to have a one night stand with a woman you picked up at a bar. It was completely different to even think about doing something like that with a guildmate that you saw regularly. Especially a woman that basically screamed "I want a commitment". Which meant that whatever shit Laxus needed to get out of his system would absolutely not involve Lucy.
Even if she did look amazing wearing his colors and smelling of a thunderstorm.
I will forever consider purple and gold Laxus's colors and you can pull that headcannon out of my cold dead hands
ALSO YOU ARE ALL AMAZING. I'm getting so much love for this fic and it is blowing my mind. You are all so great thank you for your support
