Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail - Hiro Mashima does.
artificialartofficial - Hi! Omg, here's the update! Sadly, Rogue doesn't remember anything from that night because he's drunk. But I'm planning for something in the future chapters that is connected to that scene. I'm sorry if you're disappointed but I got other plans about that e. XD Let's see who'll save Lucy (and Sting too.) ^_^
"Ngghh..." Lucy groaned, clutching her head as she felt dizzy.
"Good, you're awake." A certain dragon slayer said, standing up and walking towards her.
"W-Where are we?"
"Some sort of cellar prison. I tried breaking us out moments ago but he came prepared. Magic won't work inside this cell." He replied as he searched around again for anything they can do.
The only thing they can see from there is a dim light leading upstairs, torches put in both sides of the way and a metal bar that keeps them from escaping.
Thunk!
Sting tried to do any damage on the cell bars again, but most of his attacks came as a normal punch or kick. Neither his dragon's roar was working.
"Oh good, you're conscious again." A familiar low voice echoed throughout the cellar, sending shivers to Lucy and Lector once again.
"What the hell do you want?! Let us out!" Sting exclaimed searching for the owner of the voice.
"Eh? If I do that it would be less the fun." He said emerging from the shadows at the side of the cell, near where Lucy stood. The latter backed away with a low shriek.
"At least tell us what is this... this thing you're planning!" Lucy said, trying not to waver.
"Hm.. I guess there's no harm in telling you anymore, since in a few hours you'll be gone." A sly smile formed on his lips.
"Bastard." The dragon slayer growled.
"Freeing our Queen Darcy is what we aim for, young ones. Once she's free from the curse, it would be the end for the world!" A maniacal laugh erupted from his lips.
"You'll never succeed!" A certain celestial spirit mage exclaimed but was soon cut off as the man widen his eyes and pointed at her, casting another spell that makes her breathing hard.
"W-What does jewels have to do with it?" Lucy managed to ask despite desperately trying to breath air.
"Gems? Oh, yes. In order to talk to her we have to give some kind of offering. Currently, her highness is only able to talk if the offer's a jewelry."
"I should be going now, I'll see you later, if you survive... that is." He said with a sly smile before turning to leave, canceling his spell on Lucy.
She began to pant for air as her color turned back to normal.
"You okay?" Sting asked her as he helped her get up.
"I-I'm fine." She replied as her breathing went back to normal.
"Agotamien? Darcy? Stupid names." Sting muttered angrily.
"Stupid or not, we have to get out of here. Pronto!" Lucy said as she racked her brains for any ideas on how to escape there.
"Have you seen my whip?" Lucy asked her two companions.
"No, seems like that dude Agotashit took it or they left it at the shop." The blond dragon slayer said looking around the cellar.
"If you say that magic doesn't work here and on the bars, there should be some way to escape here without using magic or doing it directly." The celestial mage said to herself.
"I'm going to blast these bars!" Sting yelled furiously. He was getting more and more pissed each minute that passed.
Sting joined the open palms of his hands with all his fingers in contact. He then separates his palms while still keeping his fingers connected in their tips and a hollow light began to form between his hands and expanded before he released it. But the second he did, the magic disappeared.
"Ugh!" Sting yelled in frustration.
Lucy gasped as she saw through the barrier's trick. It was so fast she almost didn't quite catch it.
"Sting, do it again!" She instructed him, the latter only huffed before doing it again.
He again tried to do his Holy Ray only to fail each time.
"That's it!" Lucy said in delight as a smile formed on her lips.
"What is 'it', Blondie?" He grunted.
"Back to the nicknames again, aren't we Sting?" Lucy thought to herself. Sting normally calls her by her name, but if he's pissed off at her or he just wants to annoy the crap out of her he calls her with weird nicknames, if not annoying.
"This cell doesn't not allow magic to work. Rather, it cancels the magic on a certain point." Lucy explained to them.
"What are you talking about?" Sting asked her in an annoyed tone.
"What I meant to say, you idiot, is that it just nullifies the magic once it passes through this point." The blonde woman explained, walking a few steps forward to the bars.
"I saw that your magic was working perfectly fine when it was still building up on that area but when you released it, it nullified. Magic can only be used in specific areas in narrow spaces here." She explained slowly.
"Oh... I get it!" Sting exclaimed, widening his grin.
"So what do we do now, Sting? I know you already thought of some brilliant plan!" Lector cheered.
"Yeah...no." The dragon slayer scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
"I knew it! Wait, what?" The exceed gaped at him.
Lucy ignored them and began to brainstorm.
"Hmm.. Dig... Aha! Open gate of the maiden! Virgo!" Lucy chanted as she positioned herself as far as she could.
A pink haired celestial spirit wearing a maid outfit suddenly appeared.
"What's she gonna do? You've just added someone trapped along with us!" Sting accused her.
"Shut up, you idiot!" The celestial mage retorted, wanting to beat the crap out of the boy if it weren't for their need to escape right away.
Lucy, then, activated her Star Dress, similar to Virgo's outfit. Granting her the ability to dig through earth.
"It's nice to see you again, Princess." Virgo said in a monotone voice while bowing.
"It is. Anyway, Virgo let's start digging!" Lucy chirped.
The two made a tunnel underground ending at the foot of the stairs. They were followed by Sting and Lector.
"Yosh! Let's start kicking some ass!" Sting exclaimed as he got out of the tunnel.
Lector, on the other hand, was cheering up and down.
"Punishment, Princess?" The weird question the Celestial mage always asks.
Lucy just said her thanks before letting her back to the Spirit World.
"Let's go!"
"Hey, Natsu?" A certain blue exceed asked.
"What is it, buddy?" The dragon slayer responded.
"Are you okay? You don't look so good."
"I'm fine. It's just that I feel like something's bad is going to happen." He said with a frown.
Happy could only keep quiet, Natsu being serious is not always you can witness, he could only give his partner his space. Of course that didn't last long for another brawl between the Fairy Tail mages - especially the boys, mainly Natsu, Gray and Gajeel - occurred.
"Seriously Rogue. What's your problem? You've been spacing out since the other day! It's not like you at all." In a frustrated manner, Minerva asked her dragon slayer companion.
"Nothing." He quickly replied to avoid the subject as he looked away from her. Minerva, however, is quite persistent to make the Shadow Dragon Slayer to talk.
"That can't be nothing. You're preoccuppied every minute! Is something bothering you." Persistent she may be, Rogue won't talk. She became quiet for a while before talking again.
"Is it because of the job?" She knows that that isn't what's bothering him, but it's worth the shot.
"No. You know that that job you picked is easy." He replied, bluntly.
"I know. Is it because of Frosch?" She asked, trying again.
"Frosch's perfectly fine at the guild. I'd kill Sting if something were to happen to him." Probably the longest line he said to her, since it's concerning his beloved exceed.
"Then... Is it about Lucy?" One sentence that made Rogue stop from his tracks but remained a stoic face though the way he stopped didn't go unnoticed by his companion.
"Is it her?" She asked once again. Wanting to hear the words right from his mouth.
"I don't care about her." He bluntly said, no trace of emotions can be seen on his face.
"You're lying."
"I'm not."
"Why are you worried about her?"
"I said I'm not, besides she's probably at the guild with Sting."
"Oh so you think about her?" A sly smirk came across Minerva's face, even though he doesn't admit it even to himself, she knows that the man is thinking about that certain Fairy Tail mage.
"I-I'm not."
"Che. So do you like her?"
"No. She's annoying."
"How so?"
"She's always with Sting and they always fight for some petty reasons, she could be a handful at times and she's stubborn. She's weird and always hogs Frosch like he's her own exceed. She also attracts attention more than necessary." He answered with a scoff.
"Pfft... HAHAHAHAHAHA." Minerva tried to stiffle her laugh, but to no avail. She bursted out laughing. Tears in her eyes and pain in her stomach, due to laughing so hard.
Rogue stared at her like she's being possessed by a demon. Minutes have passed before she calmed down and said sorry.
"Why?" Narrowing his eyes at her.
"I-Haha-m sorry. It's... hahaha... it's just that you said you don't think about her but you notice a lot of things about her. You complain about her closeness with Sting and Frosch and the way she attracts the guys at the guild, but from the looks of it... you're jealous." She explained before bursting to another fit of laugh.
"T-That's not it." He tried to reason out, losing his composure because of how childish Minerva is being right now. His explanations fell on deaf ears.
"Oh come on, Rogue. I just can't forget that priceless face of yours." She made him remembered something he doesn't want to remember and refused to acknowledge the existence of such memory.
[Flashback]
"L-Lucy-san..." A young man approached the blonde Fairy Tail mage seated at one of the stool at the bar just as she was drinking some strawberry smoothie.
The man is a Sabertooth mage who joined recently. He has light blue hair in a messy manner and has light skin.
"Yes?" She flashed him her sweet smile.
"Uh.. I- Um..." He started to talk but he kept on stammering that he couldn't even complete a word.
On a nearby table sat the Twin Dragon slayers together with Rufus and Orga with their exceeds.
"Hey, look at that." Sting said with a smirk.
"Looks like Blondie's got another admirer." He added.
"My memory tells me that that is the fourteenth time someone approached her this week." Rufus said pullin down his large crimson hat.
"Woah. Hands down to her charm." Orga muttered as he looked at her.
"Whose charm?" A feminine voice called out causing the boys to look at her direction.
"Oh, hey Minerva. We were just talking about Lucy." The blond dragon slayer said leaning on his right arm.
"Why? What's with her?" She asked, rather confused why the boys are talking about her when she's just drinking some smoothie and talking to a boy.
"Wait... Talking to a boy?" She thought to herself.
"Another admirer, huh?"
"Yep. Blondie's beautiful, I get it. But for boys to flock over her? Wow."
They continue to chat as they look at the blonde beauty trying to understand what the boy wants to say to her.
Unbeknownst to them, Rogue was intently listening at Lucy and the man's conversation.
"I-I l-l-l-l-liiii...k-ke..." Lucy could almost think that the guy is beatboxing or is having a seizure from all his stammering.
"Hmm?"
"For you!" The man suddenly yelled as he handed over a bouquet of flowers before scrambling out of the guild, red in the face.
"W-what?" Lucy felt her cheeks heat up as she looked down at the flowers in her hands. She was shocked from the sudden behavior of the man.
The group of Sting was laughing their asses off except from a certain shadow dragon slayer who unconciously tightened the curl of his knuckles before storming out to their dorm rooms.
"What's with him?" Sting asked.
"No idea."
"My memory doesn't recall him acting like that before."
Minerva just sat their looking at the retreating back of the dragon slayer with a knowing smile before turning her attention back to the celestial mage.
A/N: I'm sorry for a short (and crappy) update. *bows 90 degrees*
