WARNING: IF YOU ARE A FAN OF LISANNA, STOP READING THIS STORY.
I should've said this in Chapter One... SORRY!
I made some slight changes to the last chapter. PLEASE READ IT AGAIN okay? I added anew scene XD.
Chapter Sixteen: The Nod That Gave It Away
"It was getting harder and harder to keep my secret buried. I was slowly starting to lower my walls - I almost didn't even sense they were cracking to begin with. I started trusting people again - seeing the good in them. At first, I didn't think too much of it, but I gradually saw the legacy Lucy Heartfilia and 'Fairy Tail' had left not just at the school, but around the city of Magnolia. I couldn't have even imagined so many people looking up to us - it was bittersweet to say the least. Being reminded of Fairy Tail on an almost daily basis, the pain of losing my family slowly started becoming more and more unbearable... but that pain was so gradual, that I didn't notice it for weeks and weeks to come."
"Mira, I need to use the washroom..." Lisanna shot her hand up, looking visibly distressed. She remained quiet through most of Lucy's session, but her anxiety was evident with the gradual depth of Lucy's story.
Miss Strauss - who was simply Mira to her little sister - brought her eyes close together in disappointment and irritation. "Can't you wait Lisanna?"
Shaking her head vigorously, Miss Strauss sighed. Some of the other students were staring up at her with confusion at her sudden outburst, but as soon as she received the teacher's approval, Lisanna dashed out of the classroom as fast as her legs could carry her.
The door banged loudly as it closed after Lisanna's exit, but Lisanna was too flustered to even be remotely startled. Instead of going to the restroom like she had said she would, she leaned her back against the wall next to the classroom door. Taking a deep breath, she shut her eyes as tightly as she could, trying to suppress the urge to scream.
This isn't happening...
Lisanna could hear the classroom slowly erupted into a sea of questions behind the firmly closed door.
"What the hell was that...?" Juvia's look of concern was easily being reflected on everyone else's faces at the moment. "I've never seen her act this jittery before."
Sting's face went numb, with a sudden flow of realization. Glancing at Lyon, he found the words he needed to say, and swiftly blurted them out. "Didn't Lucy and Lisanna hate each other?!"
This sudden statement silenced the crowd immediately. Natsu's face also went white, as his own wave of comprehension took over him. It all made sense looking into the last couple of years in their relationship. The times of sudden anger, frustration, jealousy that Natsu never seemed to understand but would always get irritated at... they made sense. "I remember Lisanna was working on her own EP at the time when Fairy Tail was releasing tracks for their own. She was always going off about how much they sucked..."
Sting ran his fingers through his hair, frustratingly. "I remember Yukino coming to see me a few weeks before they released their own EP... she was really mad at something..." Slapping her hands against his head in frustration, Sting's voice reached levels of shrieking anger. "Why can't I remember what is was?!"
"I remember Sherry being upset over something around then too." Lyon pressed his fingers in between his temple, diving in equal levels of frustration as Sting. "She brought Lucy with her, and Lucy was just losing her mind about it."
"Do you think it had something to do with Lisanna?" Natsu's teeth were jittery, almost overwhelming with anger as to not seeing their connection earlier.
"No, I don't think so." Sting sighed, still irritated about his jaded memory. "I don't think they hated each other enough to actually care about what the other was doing."
Absorbing every word that was being said behind the closed door, Lisanna's eyes closed sharply for a few moments before re-opening - a face filled with dissatisfaction overtook her features. Taking out her cellphone from her pocket, she dialed one of the numbers in her contacts, and once they picked up, Lisanna's voice sounded hoarse, almost as if it was barely there.
"We have a problem."
...
"So, this dance is Disney-themed?"
The Fall Formal was soon approaching Magnolia High, and that has been the sole topic of conversation for days and days to come. Lucy and Dan had been spending time together in the music room, listening to various tunes, compositions, and poetry during some of their spare time. Dan was thoroughly impressed with Lucy's vast knowledge of classical and western music, however, she had never opened her mouth to sing them for him - only ever requesting Dan to sing them for her. "Yea, last-minute idea. The SU committee thought it would be a hit, since live-action Disney movies are becoming a thing."
"Interesting rationale." Lucy giggled, as she sat by the grand piano beside Dan's work station, playing a few major chord structures. "Are you gonna be performing?"
Chuckling in a manner that seemed to display bitterness, Dan began opening a music software on the computer om his work station to do last-minute fine-tuning on some of his work. "Yea, with none other than Lisanna."
That name always came back to slap Lucy in the face, no matter where she was or what she was doing. "You don't seem so happy about that." Lucy had stopped playing keys long enough to say that, to a tortured Dan.
"I don't love the idea of singing with the meanest girl in the school... but she is the best singer that I could find." Dan finished his touches on one of the percussion instruments on a track, before closing the software, along with his station. "I would've asked -
Catching his own distracted mind, Dan restrained from finishing his sentence, even though Lucy knew what he was about to say.
I would've asked Lucy to sing with me, if she were here.
Lucy loved singing with Dan - whether it was during their recording sessions or outside of them. Regardless of the fact that she paid him to help her write a song for a contest she initially wanted no part of, a genuine bond formed between the two of them. Lucy had always encouraged Dan to release his solo work whenever he felt he was ready to share his art with the world, and Dan brought out the best in Lucy as a vocalist. They loved singing soundtrack tunes together - notably because they complimented Lucy's naturally strong, broad voice. Feeling her face getting heavier with the moments, Lucy cleared her throat. "Anyways, I should let you get back to whatever it was that you were doing. I should get to my locker and -
Lucy's preamble was cut short by multiple pings from Dan's phone.
"God, I'm sorry, I forgot I had my notifications on this loud." Dan giggled, with Lucy responding with a half-smile of her own. However, Dan's laughter was soon masked with an expression filled with confusion after glancing at his phone. "That's weird... everyone's asking me if I saw the Grammy nominations."
Raising her eyebrow, Lucy shot a playful look at Dan. "Well, as the only musician that I see around here, I'm guessing that's why?'
"I guess, but... I've never gotten almost a dozen texts about it." Dan pulled up the Google app from his phone, and started searching up the Grammy nominations list. For a few minutes, the room was silent as Dan was scrolling the list. That silence was soon interrupted with screaming on Dan's end.
"What happened?!" A startled Lucy exclaimed, watching Dan put his mouth over his hand, trying to stop himself from screaming anymore than he already had. Instead of saying anything, he showed her his phone, with the text that seemed to have made Dan's entire day a million times better.
BEST SONG WRITTEN FOR VISUAL MEDIA
SOMEBODY ELSE
(LUCY HEARTFILIA, DAN TAKAHASHI)
Track From: As You And I Were
"OH MY GOD!" Lucy's face instantly froze over with shock and disbelief. Dan's smile hadn't left his face, and Lucy had a feeling it wouldn't disappear anytime soon. Lucy's own thoughts were interrupted by a group of students - including Juvia, Gray, and Lisanna flooding into the music room, with excitement running through their veins.
"DUDE! THIS IS INSANE!" Juvia screamed, as she ran over to give Dan a bear hug, with Gray patting on his shoulder. "I can't believe this just happened!"
"I don't... I don't even remember submitting the sing for consideration!" Dan said nervously but also enthusiastically - clearly satisfied with the outcome. "David must've done it himself..."
"You're certainly going to be the talk of the entire city." Lisanna smirked, while giving a hesitant Dan a quick, but seemingly insincere hug. "You must feel pretty awesome right now."
The other students gathered all around Dan to shower him with compliments, and words of encouragement, whereas Lucy tried really hard to keep her mouth shut, as she watched everything unfold in front of her eyes. Dan's eyes were filled with pride, joy, and bliss. It is every artist's dream to be recognised by the Recording Academy - it's something a lot of artists devote their whole careers for. Often times, some of the biggest names in music go without the prized trophy for years and years, and here, two unsigned, foreign musicians were able to garner a nomination. A tear fleeted Lucy's eyelid without her noticing, but quickly wiped it away before anyone else could detect something was wrong with her, and tried to keep her composure as best as she could in front of Dan.
"Oh my god, I gotta tell Lucy that we -
What followed after that statement was dead, horrid silence.
All of a sudden, everyone in the room lost all the enthusiastic-filled and joyous words they previously came packed with to the brim. Lucy inhaled sharply, while glancing over to Dan's now distraught face. He was hurt. It was almost too evident. Lucy was almost able to feel his sudden strike of pain from where she was standing, despite a group of people separating them. Silence filled the room for what seemed like ages, until Dan cleared his throat, wiping away a tear roughly.
"Excuse me."
Lucy wanted to chase after him as she trailed his movement outside of the music room. However, a familiar pressure from Lucy's arm. Juvia stood close by her, noticing Lucy's desire to dart out the door herself. "I think he just wants to be alone for a bit."
Turning around to face Juvia, she saw a off-placed calmness across her face. The once upbeat, cheerful Juvia was sombre. "He just really misses her, you know?"
The lunch bell rang moments after Lucy nodded towards Juvia. Lunch was over, and third period was about to start. Watching the cluster of people leaving the room, Lucy reached for her bag, only to withdraw her hand. Her third period alternated between History, and a free period - as her History class was a full year class. Normally, she would spend her spare block catching up on homework, or any assignments that needed crucial attention, however, the mere sight of the grand piano sat in the music room tempted Lucy to stay just a little longer.
Approaching the piano again, Lucy brushed her fingers against the keys, and allowed herself to switch up to minor chords. Following a similar riff, she started humming to herself to get the rhythm right. Once she was on beat, everything came naturally. It was simple, minimal, but beautiful.
It was their Grammy-nominated song.
"I don't know how I'm gonna do this."
Lucy frustratingly threw her notebook on the ground, only to have an pick it back up a second later. "Hey, don't give up."
Suffering from severe writers' block, and complete confusion on how to execute the theme of heartbreak, Lucy rubbed her face with both of her hands. "We've been here for an hour, and the only thing I can write down is 'I don't want your body'."
"We agreed that it would be the core phrase of the song, right?" Dan picked up a pen from his work station, jotting down the words on the notepad, and drew a circle around the phrase. After seeing Lucy nod, Dan started drawing a few branches. "Think about this, even if you had your heartbroken, even if you were cheated on, even if you absolutely do not want to see that person again ever, wouldn't you sill hate the idea of them with some other person?"
"I... yea." Lucy needed a moment to think about her answer, before she actively lied to herself. Even though she never had a serious boyfriend, she couldn't even stand to picture her flings messing with other women. It was just part of human nature.
Passing the notebook to Lucy, Dan shot Lucy a quick smile. "There's your starting point."
Pausing for a moment, Lucy started envisioning a scenario of her partner cheating on her. What emotions would she go through? How would she even try to process it? Would she even hear it from him? "I'm not gonna wanna believe it if I hear about him banging other girls behind my back."
"Why not?" Dan looked at Lucy, curiosity flooding the gates of his eyes.
"Denial - the first stage of grief." Lucy took the pen in her own hands this time, and started writing down some words. "I'm gonna want to defend hi because I still love him."
"And what will happen if you let it sink in even more?"
Lucy made more scratches on the notepad, before pausing for a brief second to think about what Dan had just asked her. "I'd just leave at that point... cause I wouldn't be able to look at him."
Taking a few more moments to construct her verses, Lucy takes a final read of her finished product. Satisfied with what she had written, she hands the notebook over to Dan. "I think I'm getting somewhere."
Lucy immersed herself into the soothing, yet sad melodies being played off of the piano. It was a state of mind she had to create from a state of pretense, but an's handling of the production made it seem realistic, and all the more painful.
Get someone you love?
Get someone you need?
Fuck that, get money.
I can't give you my soul, 'cause we're never alone.
Even with most of the bridge not rhyming, Lucy felt the anger coming out of her throat. Happiness was dead, and her imaginary ex-boyfriend killed it with one too many whores.
I don't want your body
But I hate to think about you with somebody else
Her signature belting took over the initial breathy tone, as she commanded the chorus with more raw emotion, and uncharted power. Letting the last few chords play out, and sink into her mind, Lucy tilts her head back, in awe of what had just happened - what the fruits of their labour were.
We're up for a Grammy.
"I knew there was something about you that didn't seem right... but I just didn't know what it was until now."
Startled at the statement, and he familiarity of the voice, Lucy shot up from the stool and turned to face the speaker. Dan was planted in front of the door, with shock written all over his face. Lucy's mouth parted open, trying to say something... but no words could part from her lips.
"I know it's easy to learn the chords for the song... but Lucy is the only person I know that plays while tapping her feet in perfect synchronised patterns." Dan started walking towards her direction, making her heartbeat go up moment after moment. "She's also the only singer I know that has a consistent vibrato whenever she opened her mouth to sing."
Lucy's breathing got heavier, but Dan's face remained intact. "But what really gave it away... was your face when you found out we were nominated for a Grammy." They were inches apart now, and Lucy was certain Dan could hear her heart thumping out of her chest. "You were crying... and knowing you, you were going to try your best to not show anyone because you hate crying in front of people. You think it shows weakness."
In true fashion of his words, Lucy was fiercely blinking away tears. Even in disappearance, Dan knew Lucy - the real Lucy. Whether she was faking her disappearance, or whether she was right in front of him like she now was... he knew her.
"Tell me. Tell me it's you."
I'm gonna try my best to update more frequently. It's gonna be a challenge, but I'm going to finish this story before the summer ends. And we're getting somewhere! Love you all! Thank you for your love and support.
I wanted to do something for you - something special. If you want to ask me ONE thing about the plot - any one thing at all, PM me, and let me know what it is that you want to know. I will only take the first five PMs, so be sure to be early! Happy reading everyone!