Happy 10th Chapter Anniversary to "It Started With Fate." I was only able to make it this far because of all my lovely supporters. Thank you to my viewers, who actually make me feel that my story is a success to some degree.
Also, I hope the Americans had a fantastic July 4th yesterday (or the day before yesterday, depending where you were)!
Disclaimer: Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail. You probably saw me type this every single chapter. But I do it just to be safe.
When Erza woke up on the following Thursday morning, she didn't feel good. Her eyes stung, for she cried too much last night. Let's not forget about her lack of sleep too. She rubbed her hand on her aching back. Why couldn't today be another day off from school? She thought that after having some sleep, most of her pain would be alleviate, but it didn't.
During the time she was brushing her teeth, changing into her uniform, eating breakfast, and riding her way to school, her mind was still thinking about everything that happened yesterday. It all seemed like a bad dream. But it wasn't. Her pains all over her body proved that everything was the reality. And now that there was school today, Erza didn't know how to face Gray. As each second passed, her anxiety grew.
"Erza-sama!" someone shouted. The redhead snapped out of her trance. It was her chauffeur. "Erza-sama!" he repeated. "I've called your name several times already, miss! We've arrived at school! You don't want to be late today, do you?"
"Oh! I'm so sorry, Loki-san!" The redhead called. She clambered out of the back seat of the car. "I'll see you in the afternoon!" Erza called out as she waved. The driver gave her a thumbs up before rolling up the window screen and driving away. She watched the car vanish into the horizon. When she turned around to face the school, her breathing became uneven again. With the sick feeling in her stomach returning, she wished she stayed in the car longer.
She dragged herself to her usual corner, waiting for Lucy. Besides, that's what she does every day. Her plan was to meet up with Lucy and then promptly head to class. But a horrible thought came to her. What is Gray arrived before Lucy? she thought. What would he do and say when he sees me today? Erza's heart ached just thinking about it. Gray walked away from her the second he turned her down. This time, she wanted to formally respond to his rejection. Problem is, she didn't know how to.
But what if the atmosphere gets awkward? What if I start crying right in front of him? What will I do then? Or worse what if Gray will stay distant from me after today? The last thing she wanted was Gray to start avoiding her, just like how Jellal did. She knew Gray for all her life, so an absence of his presence would afflict her.
She stood at the corner, thinking of all the consquences that could follow.
Her daydreaming stopped when she heard a familiar voice. Jellal! she thought. The redhead swirled around. Sure enough, the bluehead was walking down the block, with Lyon right next to him. The white haired boy looked extremely excited, for he was bouncing with joy, a notebook at his hand.
Just watching Jellal laugh with his friend eased part of Erza's worries. I guess Jellal is actually nice, she thought to herself.
Then, through the corner of her eyes, she saw the fanboys, who were utterly disappointed that they were not noticed. Then her mind flashed back to last night, and the realization hit her that she was upset because her love was unrequited. Did her fanboys feel the same when she ignored them?
Erza lifted up her head. She looked at everyone. From everyone's smiling and admiring faces, she knew that they were all waiting for her to greet them in some way. "Um. . ." she started. She smiled nervously as she moved her forearm side to side. "Uh. . .Ohayo gozaimasu!" she said, her voice barely audible. But what she did was enough to make the crowd around her swoon. All around, she could hear sighs and squeals around her.
"Senpai finally noticed us!"
"Titania waved at us! Omigosh!"
"I. Can't. Believe. I'm. Not. Dreaming. AHHHHH!"
"Our Fairy Queen is beautiful, no matter what!"
In the midst of all the cheering and squees, the redhead heard her name being shouted. "Erzaaaa!" The redhead turned turned to the direction of the voice. The familiar blonde had arrived, her hair bobbing around her. Erza felt her entire body relax to see the face of her best friend.
But when she saw the person pacing next to Lucy, Erza felt she had gone stiff. "Gray. . ." she breathed. Even though she had her heart broken just last night, she couldn't stop her racing heart every time she spotted Gray Fullbuster. Besides, feelings couldn't be turned on and off like a light switch.
When Lucy approached, the redhead smiled bitterly. "Ohayo. . ." the redhead said quietly. She watched Gray through the corner of her eye. She was getting more and more nervous by the second. Erza was so focused on the boy that she didn't notice Lucy's stern expression. . .until the blonde spoke up.
"You and you," the blonde said, referring to Erza and Gray, "We gotta talk once we're at school. Now." The glare in her eyes dared for either of the two to object. Lucy was scary that way. But Erza knew that Lucy was trying to understand the situation and do her best to give advice. Erza glanced at Gray, and saw how nervous he was. Gray caught the redhead's gaze. I didn't do anything. . .I swear, Gray mouthed. Well, Lucy did have a mother's instinct and could detect whenever something fishy was going on.
Before Erza could even react, she was grabbed by the wrist by Lucy and was dragged towards the direction of the school gates. She saw her curious fanboys trailing behind her. Some were even taking pictures. Erza had a feeling those pictures were going to end up on next week's school newspaper issue.
Lucy stormed in the building with the two, headed to the third floor, found an empty classroom, checked the teacher's schedule posted on the door to make sure there was no class first period, then bought the three of them inside. She slammed the door behind her.
She pointed to Gray. "You. Talk."
Erza watched the nervousness flicker in his eyes. Lucy sighed. "There's no point in hiding in, you two. I've known you guys long enough to know when something's wrong. You should understand that I'm always here for you guys. So please, tell me what happened." It seemed as if Lucy's personality changed in a second: from her ferocious side to her caring one. Genuine worry was in her voice.
The dark haired boy let out a long sigh. He avoided eye contact with both girls. "Yesterday, it was Magic Day." He continued on. He talked about the parade, game booths, Strawberry Cake, and finally waiting for the fireworks. But he stopped there.
The redhead could feel the sweat beads forming at her forehead when both Lucy and Gray's eyes landed on her. She knew what they were thinking. They expected her to continue the story on her perspective. "Uh, yeah. So after the fireworks, we left for home," Erza said.
"Go on, I know there's more to that story," Lucy commanded.
Erza shifted her gaze to the floor. Lucy was right. There was no point of hiding her secrets. "I. . .told Gray that I. . .like him." The redhead felt awkward saying that when Gray was next to her. But still, her heart started another 500 meter race. "But he said that he only liked me as a sister and that I should follow the path my parents made," Erza continued. Her voice was breaking again. "After Gray told me he just saw me as a little sister, he left me. He told me he had business at home. And after that, I ran somewhere. I think it should be at the end of the beach boardwalk. Then, for some reason. . .Jellal was there. And he stayed with me the whole night. . .as I cried."
The blonde shot a glare at the dark haired boy. She wanted to hit Gray for using the sister justification towards Erza, but then she couldn't blame him. If the two families really found out of the two's relationship, there would be a collapse of the Fiore economy, so she understood if. . .
"I'm sorry," Gray's sad voice murmured.
Lucy sighed. It was supposed to be such a lighthearted day yesterday, but it seemed as if it turned out to be the opposite. As the supported of Gray and Erza, what should she do? And where was Natsu when Lucy needed him the most? Did he overslept again?!
"Get up," Lucy ordered. "Class starts in five minutes." Her friends complied willingly. Lucy hugged Erza tightly, then did the same to Gray. But with Gray, she gave him a knowing glare. Let him figure out what it meant, she thought to herself.
Lucy stood in front of the two, like a soldier trainer with two cadets. "Everything's going to be all right, guys, so I hope you two will start smiling again. Your smiles are my happiness. But you two have to promise me one thing." She stuck out her pinky finger. "Promise me that, no matter what, you guys will always trust each other. No. Matter. What. Things are hard right now, so I understand that you guys might have doubts on each other. But there is always trust, so you guys can wait for each other, right?" She extended her finger to Erza, who hooked it, then to Gray who did the same.
Lucy gave one more warning look at Gray, who nodded in response. After all, a promise is a promise.
Natsu would never skip school on Thursdays. Maybe late, but he would never skip it. Never. With only two minutes left 'till first period, Lucy, Erza, and Gray entered Gildarts-sensei's PE class. In other words, they were in the gym, and it bought back memories of "Gray vs. Gajeel + Jellal," which kinda disturbed the three of them.
Neither Gray, Erza, nor Lucy needed to search for Natsu; it was pretty obvious where he would be.
"Where's Gildarts?" the blonde asked. Wherever the PE teacher was, there would be Natsu. The pink haired boy loved to challenge Gildarts-sensei, but would inevitably fail every time. But it only powered Natsu's will to defeat his gym sensei one day. Lucy looked around the room trying to find either the sensei or Natsu, but to no avail. She sighed, and started walking to her gym floor spot, her friends trailing behind them.
As the three of them walked across the gym, the students realized that their Romeo and Juliet has walked in, and all heads were turning her way. And, like always, a murmur broke out in the room. Besides, their class has the heir of two of the most powerful companies in the country. There would always be something to gossip about, right?
Erza rolled her eyes. She was too exhausted for this again. Why couldn't her classmates be more mature? So what if Erza's a Scarlet? She's also human, just like everything else. Fame and power doesn't last forever. She tried to ignore the comments going throughout the room.
"Why is Titania so late today? Look, she's with Gray and Lucy. . ."
"It's weird, I saw the queen outside twenty minutes ago. . .why did she just arrive now?"
"It doesn't matter whether or not you saw her. . .at least we all know she's safe and sound." A sigh followed that comment.
"Gray looks amazing with his thin tie today."
Suddenly curious, Erza glanced at Gray, who was walking beside her. She glimpsed at Gray's outfit. Well, it was still the Fairy Tail Academy uniform, but Gray always found creative ways to make the uniform look interesting. Well, true that. Gray did look nice with a thin tie. the redhead commented to herself. She tried to suppress the blush that was rising. I wonder how he looks like if. . .
"Lucy!" there was a shout that rang through the humongous gym. The yell interrupted Erza's thoughts, and reminded herself that she was still at school. Soon, everyone's eyes diverted to the boy running across the gym, his pink hair in a mess. His face looked pallid as if he had seen a ghost. Not surprisingly, the gym sensei was walking behind him. Compared to the panicky Natsu, the teacher looked normal. His orange hair was slicked back and his dark eyes were darting around the gymnasium. When Natsu kept on running, Gildarts glowered from behind. Feeling that someone was staring at him, Natsu turned around to see Gildarts-sensei's scowl. The pink haired boy abruptly stopped in his tracks and trudged to his gym class floor spot with his head hanging low.
"Did Natsu lose the duel again?" Lucy sighed. "This boy will never learn until he ends up in the hospital." The blonde clucked her tongue in dissatisfaction as she continued her way to her floorspot. Gray and Erza followed. Soon, the three diverged into separate places.
When Erza settled on her floorspot, she scanned the gym. What was Natsu trying to say? Sure, Natsu have lost plenty of times to Gildarts-sensei, but he had never looked so frightened. She glanced at Lucy, who was biting her fingernails. I guess Lucy noticed it too, Erza thought. She looked for Gray or Natsu, but her view was blocked by the students sitting around her.
When Gildarts-sensei reached the front of the gymnasium, he blew his whistle. The murmur in the class soon died down and all eyes were on the teacher. "Students of Class 2A, good morning!" he shouted. The students hooted in response. The sensei smiled. "I was actually very busy this morning, but I'm glad I made it here! Anyway, be prepared for some news." The class "ooo"-ed. "Thing is I was at the office and. . ." he was interrupted when the phone rang in the gym office. Gildarts-sensei held up both of his hands to feign innocence. The class laughed as the PE sensei disappeared into the office room. And of course, the second Glidarts-Sensei was gone, the class started guessing what the sensei was about to say.
Erza sat quietly as she toyed with the ends of her uniform blazer. She searched for Lucy to seek company. She furrowed her eyebrows when she spotted Lucy, Gray, and Natsu already grouped together. She also saw the glares certain girls were giving Lucy for being near Gray.
Gray caught Erza's gaze. He looked at the redhead before she could shift her gaze. He beckoned for her to come. Soon, the fangirls' eyes were now on the redhead, and the level of hatred contained in their glares were sky-high. Cautiously, the redhead scooted to Natsu, Gray, and Lucy, while trying to avoid the irritated fangirls. She finally reached the three of them with no harm. She saw Lucy gently stroking her boyfriend's back as she tried to coax him to tell her the story.
"S-save yourself, L-lucy," Natsu mumbled.
The blonde arched her eyebrow. "What happened, Natsu?" she asked with sincere concern.
"That woman is back." Natsu huffed. He rested his chin on his palm. He was still a little pale, but other than that, he was fine. Lucy sighed with relief. Erza could tell that she was this close to having a heart attack a minute earlier.
"What woman?" Erza, Gray, and Lucy said at once. They stared at Natsu to wait for an answer. Instead, Natsu nervously glanced at both sides, as if a demon would pounce on him any moment. His eyes widened when he spotted something. He pointed at something on the other side of the gym, near the entrance. Unfortunately, the bodies of the students blocked the view. But they didn't have to see. The next thing they knew, a shrill voice echoed through the gym.
"Gray-sama!"
Well, it's pretty obvious who the voice belongs to.
Once again, THANK YOU TO ALL MY FABULOUS READERS. I know I say that a lot, but there is no amount of thanks that will express how thankful I am to each and every one of you! I could write an entire essay on why I love you guys (actually, I'll do that in the future).
I hope you guys will stay tuned for the next chapter! Hopefully, I might find a little extra time this week and upload the next chapter a little early. Don't forget to review, follow, and fav this story. Your support is really appreciated. I love you guys! :3
'Till Next Chapter! ~CHS