Former Arrangements

By Genavere

Chapter Three

Lucy tugged at the bottom of her skirt, once more cursing herself for deciding to wear it today. Not only did it barely cover the marks Natsu left this morning when she woke up to find him between her legs, the temperature had turned cold with the change of the season. Normally, the cold would not cause any discomfort as the heat from her partner would keep away the chills.

But normally, she did not have the whole of Team Natsu sitting on the opposite side of the table from her waiting for her with transfixed eyes. Even Wendy gave her an intense stare, which made it difficult to gather any thoughts.

About the only one not staring at her, thankfully, was Happy, and that was due to him being too busy stuffing his face with a fish.

"So, Lucy," Erza broke the silence first, causing the celestial mage to straighten up. One did not make the Fairy Queen Titania wait without good reason. "There was a reason why you had us sit here, correct?"

"Um, yes," she frowned. When she arrived that morning—much later than she had originally planned due to a certain dragon slayer, she had talked with Mira again and they agreed it would be best if a table away from the crowd was used for the discussion. That meant the opposite side of the building of the request board and in the back corner.

She had already talked to Natsu about needing to talk to all of them on the way there, and he immediately seemed to grasp the seriousness of the tone. It might have dealt with what happened last night, but she would take it if he was willing to listen and not start a mid-morning brawl.

It had not taken long for them to gather the rest of their team at the pre-determined area, but even with the closest tables around them void of guild members, the constant noise of the hall made it harder to express her concern than it had last night.

A quick glance at the bar left her feeling even less confident as only Lisanna tended the bar and Mira was nowhere in sight. Even a smile from the older woman would have helped settle down the nerves and doubt building up in her chest.

It could be that she made everything sound worse than it was to Mira last night and it was all blown out of proportion. But how could she express her concerns if she was hesitant about them, herself? Maybe she could talk about something else and just forget about the eyes watching her. If Natsu was not able to walk with her, Loke was always available…

A shiver ran up her spine, reminding her of the other night when she swore someone had been close enough to breathe on her. There was no going back, she decided, worrying her lower lip between her teeth.

"Yeah, I just wanted to talk to you guys about a concern I have," she said. Again, her hands clenched at her skirt. She caught the glimpse of the faint scar on her wrist Wendy had been helping heal. The hand print still visible to her. Even a year later and the events from before still lingered physically, too, and pushed her to keep going. "I can't really say if it is important or not, but it is something I feel needs to be addressed."

"You know you can tell us anything, Lucy," Gray shrugged his shoulders, his bare chest brought a squeal from the other side of the hall from his girlfriend. "But if it has anything to do with flame brain, you are on your own. We warned you about him years ago."

"Shove it, Ice prick." Natsu sent him a glare, ignoring the slight that normally would have caused a full out brawl and turned his attention back to his partner. "Anything you need to say, we'll listen, Lucy."

"I agree," Wendy smiled. "No matter what is bothering you, we can always help you, Lucy-san."

She smiled at them, tears pricked at her eyes. "Thanks, you guys." She took a deep breath and looked at Natsu's concerned eyes. It was important to let them know. They were her team and family, and if she could not admit her concerns to them, then how could she say she trusted them or her partner? She let out a huff. "This should be easy to say, to be honest. When I talked about this with Mira last night it seemed easy, so I don't know why I am struggling right now."

Maybe trying to talk about this in the guild was not the best idea, she mused as an argument started by the request board. While she knew everyone would know by the end of the day, having so many people around, even if they were her nakama, made this harder. She kind of wished Mira was there to help her just break the ice of the situation she wanted to tell them.

Almost as if summoned, the white-haired mage came up to the table and set a tray down, her brother followed behind with two more in each hand. "You guys look like you need some refreshments!" Mira said with her normal smile in place as Elfman tried to boast how manly it was to help his sister.

All of their eyes widened at the amount of food and drink the two siblings passed out in front of them. Lucy tried to think of why they had decided to bring all this out for them. "Um, Mira? We didn't order any food?"

"No, we did not," Erza said with a frown. Then her eyes shined as Elfman set a plate of strawberry cake in front of her. "But we will gladly accept this offering!"

"On the house, per the master!" Mira watched as the members of Team Natsu brightened at the aspect of free food and began to dig in. Her shoulders relaxed a bit and she offered a wink to Lucy. "Since I am sure you all know already, with Lucy having issues with stalkers lately, the master said he would be placing posts on the board for additional help from other guilds. This is an issue that might be bigger than we know, so we are taking all the precautions as necessary. Now, let me know if you need anything else!"

"Umm…Mirajane…" Lucy tried to swallow around her heart she found in her throat as the siblings left their table. Now even Happy was staring at her!

Yes, she had wanted an icebreaker, but not like that! Feeling like one of Gray's Ice Make Hammers had just slammed onto her head, she slowly accepted her fate and met her team's intense stares. An explosion of voices answered her.

"What the hell, Luce! Another stalker!?"

"Why did you not address this situation with us sooner? I am disappointed you did not trust us with this information when it first started, Lucy."

"I promise I won't stalk you this time to make sure you aren't stalked."

"Are you feeling okay, Lucy-san? I heard this can be really scary!"

"I dare-say, this is quite unexpected and disturbing."

"Don't worry, Lushee, we won't let anyone hurt you!"

"H-hey, wait a minute, one at a time!" Lucy sighed and held her hands up. "First, yes, and as I told Mira last night, this has been an on and off issue for years since Fairy Tail was disbanded."

Mouths snapped shut as suddenly as they had erupted. The telltale sign of how much it had hurt all of the members of the guild during the year it had been disbanded evident in their silence. It almost felt like the whole guild hall had gone quiet to listen to them.

What hurt her the most was the guilt on Natsu and Happy's faces since, as Natsu had once admitted to her, he never thought she would be completely alone while they were gone.

She took in a deep breath. "While I don't believe it is anyone from when I was in Crocus, I have noticed since we have been back that I get the same sensation of being watched as I did then." She paused, thinking about it more. "To be honest, it feels different from then. While most of those then had been crazed fans, no one has approached me openly. It is more like…." She shook her head and waved off the thought.

"Tell us what you think it is like," Erza reached out a hand and grabbed one of Lucy's. "Your mind and intuition has been an asset for so many years, I know what you will say will have an impact on this. Even if it is a mere gut-feeling."

Lucy looked down at their hands and caught a glimpse of the untouched cake in front of the requip mage. Just that sight told her how important this discussion was for the red head. A glance at the others showed none of them had dug into their food, either. And that was something for the endless pit named Natsu.

"I just…it feels like someone has just been watching me. Like they are taking notes or surveilling me," she admitted. "It is like when I sit out at the park and watch the people for inspiration in my writing. I don't feel it all the time, but it has been happening more lately. That's…kind of why I have been pushing for more jobs lately. I don't feel it when we are out on them."

"I did think it was weird that you kept asking about jobs instead of focusing on your writing," Gray said. He leaned forward on his fists and thought over everything. "Since we have been back, I remember there was an article on our quest that Jason guy did on us. Could that have brought a new string of fans?"

It was a possibility she had not thought of since most male fans did not approach her with Natsu almost constantly around. "It could be possible. It also might have brought attention to our team since no one had been able to complete the quest for over a century. That might bring a target to us and the guild."

"Then maybe the Master is right in thinking this could be a larger issue," Erza frowned. "It might be that all of us have been being followed, but only Lucy has noticed since she has experience with it."

"I don't know if I should be flattered or insulted by that assumption…" Lucy gave her a cold look.

Natsu frowned and crossed his arms as he sat back. "Why haven't you mentioned this when we are walking? I could've tried catching their scent, then we would know who this pervert is!"

She shrugged, looking down a bit. "It never happens when I am with someone, only when I find myself walking alone. Even then it is not all the time."

"Sounds like you just need someone to walk with you all the time," Carla said with a smile. "Could always take the Tom Cat with you. Any danger and he will whisk you off your feet."

"Yeah, no thanks."

"Carla! Do you really think of me in such heroic ways?" Jumping to his feet, fish temporarily forgotten, Happy began to strike poses that he thought were heroic and manly. Unfortunately for him, it did nothing to help his position with the white exceed.

"Carla has a point, Lucy-san," Wendy spoke up. "If you don't feel like you are being watched when someone is with you, then it might be best to have someone by you all the time—"

"I volunteer!" Natsu grinned, the thought of spending more time with his partner thrilled him to bits. "No one would dare sneak a peak at you with me around. They try, I'll show them what a Fairy Tail wizard is all about!"

"You can't be with her at all times, Flame Brain."

"Why not? I practically am anyway."

"It's not practical!"

"Practical, smack-it-all, I won't let anyone freak out my partner, and now that I know someone already has, then they have made themselves an enemy." He punched his fist into his palm and grinned. "Yeah, I am already gettin' fired up thinkin' about punchin' that low-life into the ground."

Gray groaned and rolled his eyes, but Lucy felt her heart lift. There could never be a doubt in her mind that he would keep her safe to the best of his abilities. As he had told her last night, no one was allowed to hurt her. She gave him a relived smile, one he returned with his normal grin.

It made her happy that they were willing to listen to her, and at least this time Natsu was not making jokes of it like when her father had been following her. A sense of relief washed over her and she silently thanked Mira for helping break the ice. There would need to be some shopping later to get a suitable thank you gift.

"Perhaps it would be better to do the exact opposite."

Everyone's attention shifted to Erza with confused bewilderment.

"If they only seem to come around when Lucy is alone, we will never be able to figure out who it is if someone is always with her. We should use this knowledge against them and effectively use her as bait to draw them out."

"Um, Erza, I am right here. No need to talk like I am not…" Lucy complained, not liking the sound of this plan at all, but her complaints were ignored.

"If Natsu is able to get a scent of them, we can follow it and bring this stalker to justice! It would solve the issue at hand, and we could gather information from them to see if others might be targets, too."

Natsu jumped up on the seat, punching the air in excitement. "Yeah! Then I could beat them senseless, too!"

"But…why do we need to use me as bait?"

"It's not a bad idea," Gray said, nodding. "If they show themselves enough, I could keep them from running by freezing them in place."

"Or we could go back to Wendy's plan—"

"Carla and I could do aerial surveillance!" Wendy chipped in, happy to do something to help the team.

Feeling like her gut had been punched in, Lucy looked at Happy, hoping for someone on her side. Even if she had to bribe him with fish, she just wanted someone with her. And, surprisingly, when he looked at her—the fish long gone by that point and his plate of fish gone, though she assumed some of those went into his bag for safe keeping, his eyes seemed to water a bit.

"Don't worry, Lushee, I will stay with you!" They both smiled at each other one in relief and the other... "Besides, if anything happened to you, we wouldn't get free food or a comfy bed to sleep in!"

"…I am going to kill you, cat…!"

A/N - I haven't been able to fully focus on my normal writing this week due to being exhausted mentally and physically. I blame going to a con this last weekend and still dealing with my work being purchased by a corporation at the beginning of the month. All week since I got back it felt like I was being babysat as the corporate trainer followed me around to watch my process. It was annoying, so I worked on this more to get my mind off of things.

Hope things worked out well with all the character interactions.