Former Arrangements

By Genavere

Chapter Six

A few days had passed since the break in, and the guild had been in a frenzy of preparations ever since. Warren had joined their operations, along with Mira and a few others. Loke had brought himself out of his gate to serve as Lucy's personal bodyguard when Natsu could not be by her side.

Her home had been cleared of her belongings, but if you looked inside from the windows, it still looked full and lived in. "Lacrima glass!" Mira had explained as they looked at the glass before it was put into the window. The white-haired wizard and many others were there to help set up the apartment and take everything to Natsu's place. "Unless they come through the door, which has also been enchanted and extra secured with multiple locks, they will still think you live here."

"Are you sure a simple trick like this will work?" Natsu poked at the glass a bit before Laki swiped it from him so he could not break it.

Mira chuckled and gave him a firm nod. "It is hard to detect any magic or enchantment on it, and all we need it to do is hide the fact that Lucy is no longer staying here. With everyone helping to secretly move her processions and making a show of enforcing her apartment, they will think she is still here! It's perfect!"

Between the work on the apartment, planning out how they would set everything into motion to draw the stalker out, and keeping their celestial mage safe, everyone in the guild felt that things were slowly coming together. Some of the guild members had made it into a game, each testing their own ability to try to figure out who was behind it before the main team did. Though, not many believed they would be able to beat the protective dragon slayer or his sense of smell.

The sun was near setting and the guild hall was still full compared to the weeks prior. Mages from other guilds were there, particularly Lyon and Hibiki, and they were ready to help in anyway possible. They set up a base set with archive magic, a radar system to detect magic, communication lacrimas, and more that they kept bringing to the table in case they need it. If anything happened that night, something would be recorded, they were sure of it.

The main team preparing to go out gathered their own items. Earrings lacrimas to stay in contact with each other, a decision they made even with Warren there in case anything went wrong.

Nothing could go wrong, not in Natsu's opinion. They had to find the creep tonight and get rid of this threat to his partner. Earlier he had spent some time with her before Mira and Erza had kicked him from the infirmary room they had set up as the safe room.

It irked him that once he left the room, he could not smell Lucy except for the old scents in the building and the rapidly diminishing one on his clothes. The barrier Freed set up around it to negate any of her presence was too good. His skin crawled and a cold sweat coated his skin. If things had gone bad a year ago, would this have been how things would have felt?

He glared at the door that hid his girlfriend. Once this was over, he was taking her home and they would indulge in the other until exhaustion overcame them.

#####

Lucy felt the itch just before she turned her head and sneezed. All the stress she had been under recently better not make her sick, she grumbled as she pulled her shirt over her head.

Though she had undressed and even bathed with the female members of Fairy Tail before, it was strange that she was giving the clothes she had worn that day to give to Mira to wear. As each article was removed, the temperature seemed to get colder and colder. If Natsu was there, he would have been able to heat the room and to keep the chill from her body.

Unfortunately, now that the preparations had been started, she would be required to stay in the barrier around the infirmary until the mission succeed or the team came back empty handed. That meant she would be separated from her fire dragon slayer until then.

She let out a sigh. All she wanted was a quiet life and to enjoy spending time with Natsu and Happy. It felt like she had not been able to do anything with them that was fun recently, and she felt the urge to ask them to play a game with her after this was over.

Another article of clothing was handed to her that would mask her magic and scent. An extra layer on top of the barrier around her. While she was grateful for all the help everyone had been giving her, it was irritating her that she had not been able to offer any help.

No, she did not want to bring harm to her spirits, but if there was anything she could do to help track down this stalker, then she wanted to try. And there was one who could dress and act like her perfectly.

"Are you certain Gemini wouldn't be a better choice for this?"

Mira smiled at her. "Unfortunately, we don't know what this person will do if they were able to get close to you. If they were able to knock Gemini out quickly, we might not be able to get there in time to capture them. This is a precaution so we have the best chance to do that."

"Besides," Erza placed a hand on Lucy's shoulder, "if this does not work out, we will need a different strategy. While we are out there, I would like you and Levy to try to think of something that might of use."

"I guess…" She finished dressing and frowned at herself in the mirror. Did they really have to dress her like this? "I am going to die of embarrassment if anyone sees me like this!"

"Nonsense, this is the pinnacle of high fashion!"

"We need to work on your taste of fashion, Erza…Mira, please help me out with this," she pleaded.

"Well, there is not much we can do right now. Sorry, Lucy," the white-haired mage gave her a sympathetic smile. "I am sure that Natsu would enjoy seeing you in about anything you wear. That should make you feel better!"

The look she gave herself in the mirror was of pure misery.

When she had been younger, there had been books she had been forced to read during her studies with pictures of old swimming suits that women wore in high society to stay 'modest.' They had covered the women from the tops of their necks and some even covered their feet. Some had a dress form to keep lecherous thoughts from entering any male minds that might see them in their informal clothing. Though, she knew nothing could do that.

The outfit reminded her of those pictures, but where one might have thought a dress would be, it was only ruffles of fabric. From her ankles to the top of her hips, pink ruffles lined the skin tight fabric everywhere except on the inside of her legs. Then it started from the junction of her legs all the way up to her neck. Her arms were covered completely in the layered fabric, too.

Shoes of the same design were thrown on her feet and a hood-like hat covered her hair with the offending material, as well. It was the worst design she had ever seen even compared to the old pictures.

"I highly doubt I will live this down if Natsu saw me," she said with a whine in her voice. "Why ruffles?"

"The fabric needed to be able to absorb any magic or traceable evidence you might shed," Mira explained. "With your magic capabilities being quite strong, we needed to provide enough fabric to do a complete job. Hence, you have ruffles!"

If she heard that right, that meant… "So, you are saying the ruffles are my fault?"

"Exactly!"

"Kill me now." She covered her face, the gloves Erza shoved on her hands warm against her skin. This suit would be the death of her, she decided then and there, whether it was socially or figuratively. "Maybe I can just hide under a blanket and let Levy describe everything to me. But, besides the ruffles, why pink?"

Both of the women exchanged looked, which worried Lucy. The color could not be a fundamental portion of the outfit, too, right?

"Well, you see, Lucy…"

"What Mira is trying to say…"

"We both thought you would look good in pink," they shouted at her in unison, their anxiety of picking the wrong color evident on their faces.

Silence filled the room.

"Oh…" Realization hit her and she would be damned if she would pull a Gray in that moment! "Oh! Of course, that's why! Thank you both for taking so much consideration in this outfit to keep me safe. I really do appreciate it!"

Both Mira and Erza shared a look and beamed. It was strange seeing the once-rivals happy about something they both worked on together, but it was in order to help keep her safe.

A genuine smile lifted her lips. Even if the outfit was hideous and she would never live it down if certain people saw it—she could think of three people right off the top of her head, it had been made out of concern for her safety.

Yet, there was one worry she had with Mira playing the bait. "What if they use sealing stone cuffs? You won't be able to use any of your magic and they will know you aren't me."

"That is a possibility, but I can still fight without my magic. Plus, a few of us have been working for awhile to try to find a weakness to counter the cuffs."

"A weakness?"

"That's right," Erza folded Mira's clothes and put them on one of the beds. "After the war, before we went to Guiltina, Gray and Natsu brought up the issue of the seal stone cuffs. They mentioned you were almost cut in half and they wanted to figure out a way to break out of them to avoid situations like that.

'Even Warren wanted to figure out a means to use his magic while wearing them or with those suppressed. Only a small group of us work on finding a way out of them and working our magic around them as we had to make sure no one else knew we were doing it. We could not let the magic council know what we were doing."

Lucy had no idea they had been doing that. It made sense that she had not caught on since after the war, they had all tried to go back to a sense of normalcy and she had delved into finishing The Adventure of Iris. That would have explained the times Natsu had actually left her alone to work instead of trying to look over her shoulder or drag her off to do a job or hang out.

Another smile graced her lips. No matter what anyone said, she really had lucked out having him as her best friend, partner, and boyfriend. And she knew he would keep his promise that they would be together forever.

In her own little world, she missed the knowing look the other two shared.

"Well, it is late and I need to head back to my apartment."

Lucy bulked sudden hearing her own voice. In front of her where Mira had once stood was an exact duplicate of her, in her clothes and even with her hair style. The two Lucys looked at each other.

"Knowing you aren't Gemini makes this really freaky."

Mira-Lucy laughed. "At least you know I'm not Natsu and that I will respect your boundaries."

"Yeah…thanks for that."

"With Freed's barriers and those clothes, no one should be able to trace you as long as you stay here. That means no leaving this room no matter what." Erza gave her a firm look. "Do I make myself clear?"

"Geez, I'm not Natsu or Gray, I know how to stay put—"

"Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Good. I will send Levy and Lisanna in here to keep an eye on you. Don't worry, I won't let any of the men come in here to glance at you. We will get to the bottom of this. I promise." She gave her a reassuring smile as Mira-Lucy followed her out of the infirmary.

Feeling relieved, Lucy sat down on one of the beds and laid down to stare up at the ceiling. No matter what happened, she knew her nakama would do their best to find the person following her. Especially Natsu.

Turning to her side, she pulled the edge of the glove up a bit and rubbed the scar on her wrist gently. Everything would be fine, she assured herself, even with their track record of causing destruction everywhere they went. Her team would be safe, and they would come back to the guild with the perp in chains and ready to get information from him.

The challenge would be keeping Natsu from beating him senseless. That thought warmed her heart as she felt the exhaustion from the last few nights pull her into a dreamless sleep

#####

From the tops of buildings, Wendy and Carla did their best to stay out of sight as they followed Mira-Lucy from the guild to Strawberry Street. On the ground, Natsu, Gray, Gajeel, and Erza were staked out at different locations, with Natsu being the one to follow behind since he needed to catch a whiff of the magic.

The sun had already set and the streets were near empty except for a few stragglers here and there. Shadows danced in the alleys; the water of the canal pitch black. Still, Mira was able to see Lucy's reflection in the water as she balanced along the raised edge.

Beside her walked Happy, munching on a fish as he talked about how much he loved Carla and fish. Lucy had mentioned that she either had Plue or Happy with her nowadays when she headed home, and it had made sense to have the blue Exceed next to her. He had even volunteered, eager to help keep her safe.

In the celestial mage's clothes, she shivered lightly. The crisp night air had a sweet, clean scent to it, but left a numbing cold against her skin. It was a wonder the younger woman did not get sick more often with the lack of protective layers to ward off the cold. Though, it did offer more reasons for a certain dragon slayer to warm her up, Mira thought. Such a devious woman Lucy was!

Smiling at the thought of one of her favorite couples cuddling together and how long it had taken for them to get to that point, she jumped from the short ledge back to the main road and looked further up the street. It was not much farther to the empty apartment, and yet she had not felt anything strange.

They all knew that it might take a few nights of this to actually gain any insight, but she had hoped. Especially after she had seen how dull Lucy's eyes had been the day after the break-in.

"Mirajane, anything to report?" Hibiki's voice came over the lacrima earring she wore that resembled the heart-shaped ones normally seen on the blonde. "There has been nothing on the radar yet on our end."

She glanced up at the night sky and took in the sight of all the stars shining unhindered in the moonless sky. They truly were a sight. Through the years, Mira had managed to meet all of the celestial beings at least once with either Lucy or Yukino, not including the incident with their Eclipse selves. They all had their own unique personalities, and Loke was still considered a part of the guild. Knowing the two mages cared for their spirits as family showed how wonderful they were as people.

A few of the lights blinked in the dark heaven and she wondered if the celestials could watch them from such a height up.

She let out a sigh. "Nothing as of yet, Hibiki. I will—"

A strange sensation ran through her body, like a bucket of cold water being dropped over her head and her body froze. The words caught on her tongue as if her brain forgot how to formulate them. Drool gathered around her tongue and spilt over the corner of her mouth. Her lungs began to burn.

Something had locked her body in place. There were eyes watching her, and they were not of her friends. A crawling feeling against her skin brought unsavory goosebumps all over.

"Mira?"

Turning her head forcefully, she found herself staring into the depths of a darkened alleyway. The inky black swept out towards her and pulsed with the beat of her heart. It hid the eyes that followed her, but she knew they were there.

If this had been the feeling that Lucy had felt all these years, it made her wonder how she had not caved to tell them sooner than now. But, not once had she mentioned this sudden lack of control. Only the feel of being watched.

That feeling alone urged Mira to shift to her demon.

Time elongated to a halt. Each breath was a struggle. Each heartbeat droned on like torturous footsteps crawling their way through a field of mines. A wrong placed footstep could lead to death, but still another was placed in front of the other into unknown territory.

The question now seemed to be if she should head towards a known mine or skate around it.

Another tortured breath partially filled her lungs, then exited. A slow beat filled her ears. Black edged her vision and colored dots began dancing around her. Her body swayed in the spot she had froze.

Then she was in the darkness.

Hands gripped her wrists. Pain shot through her arms as they were slammed into the brick suddenly behind her. A large body pressed against her chest. Cold stone clamped around her wrists and the magic that she had felt so prevalent flowing through her seized. Her appearance shifted from blonde to white, brown to blue, and it was her own chest filling out Lucy's clothes.

It took barely a moment for the realization to dawn on the man's face, his lips tugged upward, then she was on him.

A knee rammed up between into his groin. Elbows struck downwards onto his neck and face. Hands fisted together, they connected with flesh, teeth bit into her knuckles.

His body stumbled back, but a fist swung back connecting with her gut and jaw. Hands gripped the cuffs again, fighting to shove her back into the wall hard enough to knock the air from her lungs.

Shouts filled the air that began to freeze and sizzle in an unnatural torrent of temperatures. Her would-be assailant down before any of them could really grasp that there are four of them ready to end his life before they could draw any information from him.

"Erza," Mira spoke softly, her foot dug harder into the man's neck. "We need to take him into custody."

"You're right," Erza agreed, her sword pressed hard enough into the man's chest to stain his shirt red. "Gray, break Mira's bindings. Natsu, back away and do not make me repeat myself." She gave the dragon slayer a hard look as he inched his flaming fist closer to the man's stomach.

"Come on, man," Gray shattered his ice sword and pulled Natsu up to stand next to him. "Lucy would rather know you didn't boil a man's guts out before we gave him a chance to explain himself."

"Yeah." His fists stayed clenched, but the fire simmered out to keep from burning his friends. This was the man. The strange scent of magic was on him that hid any other scent a person would normally have. Not even a whiff of body odor or sweat came off his body. How long had he planned to stalk Lucy, he wondered. How long had he been following her?

His heart clenched at the thought that this man could have been following her since he left to train. It would have been his fault for allowing such an opening in her protection. "When he has nothing left to say, I call dibs."

No one said anything. The tone of his voice left no room to argue, yet they knew if their blonde friend found out, she would be hurt to know they resorted to violence when she always tried to advocate for peace. They knew even with this man, she would have fought to figure out a way to resolve things in a calm manner.

The three of them shared a look. They would resolve things in a calm manner. Calm for themselves, not for him.

With little effort, Gray froze the cuffs enough to shatter them, and Erza placed their own cuffs on the man. Once they were in place, Natsu covered his nose and stumbled back. His eyes watered at the stench of the man that overwhelmed him.

"What is that smell?" Wendy asked over the comm with Gajeel following with a similar, not as politely worded fashion. Even without superior scents of smell, the other three felt their eyes burn.

"The man we captured…he must not have taken a shower in years." Erza wanted to gag, but forced the man up and pushed him forward. "Get moving. We have questions for you, and we will get the answers."

"After a bath." The smell was worse than one of Elfman's 'manly' work outs. Mira burped, her body reacting bad to the stench. "Maybe have Levy or Freed put up a barrier for smells in the holding cells."

"Not a bad idea."

"We copy that," Lyon answered them. "Are you on your way back?"

"Affirmative, with the suspect," the red-head answered, breathing through her mouth. "We will get finally be able to get the answers Lucy deserves."

A/N - A bit of a weird chapter with Natsu not having as much screen time compared to the others. This chapter took a bit longer to get out since it was much longer than the others.

Hope you enjoyed!