Back in the Guildhall 2 days before the fight
Gajeel waited a few minutes for the cogs in his guild mates brains to fully kick in.
"So Gajeel. What exactly are you trying to say? That I'm stuck with Laxus or whoever else is crazy enough to challenge him. And that's only IF they beat him?"
"Yeh that's the gist Bunny", Lucy looked down at the table lost in thought with her brows furrowed, Natsu was looking warily at her wondering what was running through the blondes head.
"You keep referring to 'phases' Gajeel, what exactly do you mean?" Levy was poised again with her pen ready for note taking on the fascinating situation her friend was going through.
Gajeel ran a hand down his face, evidently uncomfortable with the conversation. "Well I only know of 2, dunno if there's more. First there's 'the mark' which she already has, then there's the matin' part and I ain't spelling that part out for yer!" Looking away as he finished Levy could swear she saw a slight blush on his face and she chuckled slightly in to her hand finding it a touch endearing to see the scary slayer brought down by such a conversation.
"Laxus...what are you up to" Makarov was stroking his chin in thought, "you say he let you go Lucy?", her nod of confirmation prompted him on. "I can't help but wonder why...why he wouldn't just complete the process right then. Why would he let you go, even if he sensed Natsu he could have taken you away with him"
"That's a very good point master! Gajeel do you have any ideas why Laxus would have waited?" Mira was quick to pitch in on the unusual behaviour
"Heck if I know. Metalicana just went over the basics ya know. If there's some reason for waitin I don't know what it is"
"Maybe Wendy knows!" Happy pitched in this time
"Good thinkin Happy, she might know something!", a hopeful grin came back to Natsu
"Hmmm yes I suppose she might know something. Right kids, from what Gajeel has said I don't see that Lucy is in any immediate danger so I suggest we all retire for the night and meet back here tomorrow. I hope Wendy has some more information for us." waving off Natsu's incoming protests he continued "that being said I think it would be wise for her not to be left alone"
"Me and Happy will stay with her don't worry Gramps"
"Didn't you say that if you get to close to her Natsu that you get shocked?" Levy agreed Lucy shouldn't be alone and had no doubt Natsu would protect her friend well but she was also worried about him getting injured.
"Only if I get too close, so I'll just stay outside the scary lightning ring that pops up round her", sensing the hesitation of the group "and Happy can get close to her so he can always fly her away then I can stay and beat Laxus' butt". His eyes were connected with Lucy's, sheer determination in his eyes. He would protect Lucy from here and he was sure that no-one could do it better than him.
Makarov clapped his hands together "Very well, it's settled then. Try to get some sleep my children. When we've spoken to Wendy tomorrow we will work out what to do. Don't fret child - we won't let him harm you"
"Yeah Lu it'll be fine. I'll do some reading and see if I can find anything out for you", Levy gave Lucy a quick hug and then hopped off notebook in hand no doubt in search of some useful books.
And with that the trio walked back out of the guildhall back to Lucy's for the night with at least some hope for Lucy and her escape. Whirling round in Lucy's head was Gajeel's information that her 'mark' couldn't be removed. She thought back to when Gajeel had dropped that piece of information and when she had glanced at Natsu but his face gave nothing away as he'd still been looking at Gajeel. She'd wanted to know what he was thinking, a small hope maybe that he would still want to fight Laxus for her like he'd offered to do so quickly before hearing the full consequences.
But then, she couldn't expect Natsu to do that for her, sure her fate was sealed now to be attached to a dragon but that didn't mean it was right for her to seal Natsu's future for him...no matter how much she'd been secretly hoping for more with him. She loved their friendship, but she'd been curious recently if they could possibly be more together. She'd hoped to slowly work out if it was something he wanted, heck to work out for sure if it was something she wanted too but it seemed she'd have to be much faster in her decision making.
Little did she know the confusing ramblings of thoughts going through Natsu's mind who was thinking like crazy trying to work out how best to help Lucy get what she wanted. He just wanted to help his best friend, wanted her to be happy no matter what, that much he was sure of. He just wasn't sure what she wanted and as much as he damn well tried to figure it out he couldn't seem to and it was really starting to frustrate him.
He hadn't wanted to freak her out by offering again to fight Laxus after Gajeel had told them more, he'd decided to wait and see what Wendy had to say. He had decided that he'd do whatever got a real Lucy smile back. All the smiles she'd given him since 'the incident' had been lacking in her usual Lucy charm and he was really missing it. Sure they'd gotten a bit closer but they weren't reaching her eyes and making them sparkle like normal. He let out a sigh as he trailed slightly behind Lucy, he could only hope Wendy would have something helpful tomorrow.
Happy was flying overhead the duo keeping his eyes out for Laxus. He was so focussed on his hunt for blonde hair he missed the red eyes following them in the shadows. "I do hope this pink one doesn't interfere with Masters plan, he won't be pleased if he doesn't get the celestial mage. He will surely punish me if this doesn't go his way, I must ensure victory of the lightning slayer. Yes if I help him win I'm sure Master would be pleased with me."
Veronik91 welcome to the story!
Soon we will get timelines all converging so less of the back and forth, if you'd rather I finish one timeline rather than flitting between let me know in the reviews and I may look at changing the layout :)