Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and all recognizable characters belong to Mashima Hiro, et al. Warning for mild prescription drug abuse and gun violence in this chapter. See full list of disclaimers and warnings in chapter one.
I keep going to the river to pray
'Cause I need something that can wash all the pain
And at most I'm sleeping all these demons away
But your ghost, the ghost of you, it keeps me awake
"Ghost" Ella Henderson
Lucy groaned and blinked her eyes against the sun slanting in through the dusty blinds. She was tangled in the thin blanket, and her back hurt from sleeping on the lumpy old mattress all night. She lifted up a hand to push blonde strands from her eyes, and noticed the fine tremor in the fingers of both hands. Clutching them together, she silently willed the tears away. Her eyes already felt puffy and sticky.
She could hear bickering coming from the living room, but she ignored it and hit the bathroom instead. After her morning eliminations, she tried to rinse the grit from her eyes. With no hand towel, she was forced to wiped her face on the hem of her tee shirt. She realized in surprise that she hadn't changed clothes in nearly two days, and immediately felt disgusting. Her bag was still in the living room, so she had to brave the company she heard out there to retrieve it.
She cracked open the bathroom door, only to have it shoved further by the little blue cat. "Aye!" Happy cried, happily, as he twisted himself around her ankles. Lucy couldn't help but smile as she scooped him up, and steeled herself for what was to come next. When she walked into the main area of the apartment, she was surprised to see three people there. Natsu sprawled comfortably on a bunched up blanket on the floor, and a man and woman sat in the folding chairs. Lucy struggled with a blush when she realized the man was shirtless, and had the type of body that deserved to be on display. Happy jumped from her arms and went to his master, curling up on a small patch of Natsu's blanket.
The bickering she'd heard stopped abruptly when Lucy entered the room, and awkwardly, she gestured to her overnight bag. "I need to, uh, I need to get my things."
"Hey Luce, hold up." Natsu grinned at her cheerfully from his position, as if the night before had not happened. "I want you to meet these two. She's Juvia Lockser and this asshole is Gray Fullbuster."
Juvia stared silently at Lucy's muttered "Hello." She had a distinctly penetrating gaze that made Lucy feel as if the other woman were staring right through her. She turned and offered Gray a shy smile.
"Yo." He waved briefly, and Lucy had to avert her eyes from the way his pectoral muscles flexed. She did not see Juvia's own gaze sharped as she shyly waved back.
"These guys just got back from handling some guild business outside of Magnolia. They're gonna hang out with you today 'cause I got some shit to do."
Lucy looked at him, wondering what kind of business he had, and wondering if she dared ask. After last night, she was re-thinking her decision to come to Fairy Tail for help, but until she could come up with a plausible reason to leave, she was stuck. So instead of asking the questions she wanted to ask, she simply agreed. "All right."
Snatching her bag, she hurried back to her bedroom to change. She could hear more arguing from the front, followed by what sounded like at least one of the chairs being overturned. She flinched, but pulled up her shorts and slipped her feet back into her heeled sandals. The sound of the front door slamming punctuated her exit and return to the front room. Juvia still sat primly in her chair, while Gray had his chin on his fist and was glaring at the front door as if his eyes could freeze it over. Lucy smiled and brushed her hair behind her ear, trying to hide the trembling. "If you don't mind, I'd like to go back to my apartment and pick up a few more things?"
Juvia smiled a pinched smile. "Of course, Miss Lucy. Shall we go right away?"
"Um, yes, please. I have some, ah, medications that I need to take." Lucy clenched her jaw and kept her eyes away from Gray, who had turned his gaze to her.
"We shall go then. Juvia drove today, since Gray-sama is exhausted from our long trip."
Gray didn't look exhausted, in Lucy's private estimation, but instead she followed the two out the door. Locking it behind her with the key Erza had given her, Lucy was at the bottom of the steps when she heard her name. Turning, she saw Levy waving eagerly. The other woman trotted over to her, Gajeel trailing behind.
"Hi Lu-chan! How was your first night?" Levy clasped her hands, happily.
"Well it was a bit... difficult." Lucy admitted sheepishly. "The apartment is a bit rough."
"The apartment?" Levy side-eyed her, then laughed. "Don't worry. When I first came here, mine was the same. Rough around the edges and all dirty from disuse. It just takes a little spit and polish, then you'll have something really nice to come home to. That is, if you plan to stay."
There seemed to be an underlying meaning to Levy's words, but before Lucy could finish processing the thought, a rough hand pulled her by the elbow. She automatically flinched away, and Gray held up his hands in apology. "My bad, I forgot about your situation. We're going. What's up you guys?"
The last was directed at Levy and Gajeel, who chirped "Going to work!", and grunted, respectively. Lucy was mostly pleased to see Gray was wearing a shirt now, and Juvia stood at the driver's door of what had to have been the bluest Volkswagen Beetle Lucy had ever seen. It was so incredibly ostentatious that it was clear even Gray was embarrassed to been seen riding with her, although he got in without complaint. Lucy slid into the cramped back, not even a seat, and held on tight. Juvia peeled out in a manner that elicited a yelp from Lucy, and a curse from Gray.
"Miss Lucy, where is your home?" Juvia asked, as if she were not screaming up a quiet side street at sixty miles per hour.
"Eep!" Lucy bit back a yelp when Juvia ran the stoplight and swerved around the corner. Lucy was not sure how it was possible to fishtail so much on dry pavement, but Juvia straightened out without a hitch.
"57 Strawberry Street! Apartment 203reeeeeeeeeee!" Her voice ended in a shriek as Juvia missed oncoming traffic by only inches. From there she just closed her eyes and prayed to any god that was listening she would make it home alive.
"Here!" Juvia screeched into a guest parking spot and jumped out of the car. Gray and Lucy followed shakily. "She always forces me to let her drive." He muttered to Lucy, "And she drives like she's possessed. But hey, you didn't throw up, so you're doing better than Natsu."
Lucy giggled behind her hand and Juvia shot them a dirty look. "Gray-sama, perhaps I should drive to Hargeon, next time? You seem so out of sorts."
Gray visibly blanched. "I was just telling Lucy how unfortunate it is that Natsu can't ride shotgun with you. It's too bad that he gets carsick if he doesn't drive."
Juvia's narrow look was suspicious but she did not argue. Lucy led the way into the building, towards the elevators. She was about the push the button when a voice called out. "Oh! Lucy! I have your new keys!"
She turned and smiled at Tom. "Thank you! Would you believe I nearly forgot? I thought you said it would be three days, so I was crashing with a friend."
Tom smiled and handed her the shiny new keys. "Are these your friends?" He looked at Gray and Juvia askance. Lucy gave him an endearing smile.
"No, no, this," she indicated Juvia, "is an interior decorator I've hired, and her assistant. I'm doing a remodel."
Juvia beamed. "Hello."
Tom was not suspicious by nature, and under the pretty woman's full attention he melted. "Lucy, that's wonderful. It's been a long time coming!"
"It certainly has. Okay, well, we're going to do... measurements. I'll be staying with my friend until construction is complete. Oh, and Tom?"
"Yes?"
"Elijah and I are taking an indefinite pause in our relationship. If he comes by, please don't tell him I've changed the locks, or am staying elsewhere."
"Oh, Lucy, I'm sorry." Tom's face fell. "He is such a nice young man."
"Ahaha." Lucy choked out, then waved goodbye. Inside her apartment, nothing was changed, and she showed the other two her living room, then went to pack more essentials. In her bathroom she popped open the medicine cabinet. There were two bottles of legal prescriptions, one for migraines and one for her birth control. She pushed these two aside and took the third, unmarked bottle. She shook two pills into her hand, and swallowed them dry. She'd forgotten them in her haste before, now she took all three bottles back into the bedroom. The two in her name she dropped in a rolling suitcase. The third, she tucked in her purse.
Adding more underthings, clothes, and shoes to the case, Lucy glanced around, to make sure she hadn't missed anything else. Sitting on her vanity was a small jewelry box, and she stepped to it. Opening the case, she shifted jewels right and left then pulled out a tarnished silver locket. She opened the pendant to reveal faded pictures of a smiling man and woman. She ignored the man, and gazed at the woman. Not much older in the picture than Lucy was now, Layla Heartfilia smiled beautifully at the camera, the joy of new motherhood evident on her face. These pictures had been taken when Lucy was just a baby, the locket her first "grown-up" gift from her mother when she turned ten. That had been less than a year before her death.
Lucy dropped the locket on top of her clothes, then shut the case. If she never returned here, she would hate to lose her last memento of her mother. Done, she lay back on the bed. The pills were starting to work. She didn't feel as euphoric as if she had snorted them but even swallowed, her tremors were eased and a sense of happy numbness had begun to wash over her. She lay on her soft bed, and soft pillow and hummed as her mind began to drift.
"Lucy, this is Elijah Featherstone." Jude Heartfilia smiled at his daughter. "He is Heartfilia Enterprises' new liaison to the District Attorney's office."
"Hello, Lucy." The handsome young man smiled at her, and Lucy blushed. At twenty-one, she'd had several boyfriends, but her last real fling had been with an assistant in her father's company. It was hard to date, being the daughter of the most powerful man in the city, and Elijah was just her type.
"Miss Lucy?" Juvia's voice roused her and Lucy shot up. "Pillows!" She cried, and laughed at her own outburst. Juvia gave her an odd look and sighed. "You must get pillows, then, Miss Lucy. Juvia has another errand to run."
Still giggling, Lucy pulled her pillows off her bed and stuffed them under her arm. Grabbing the suitcase handle, she beamed. "I'm ready."
The car ride back was much more exciting than the trip there, and Lucy was laughing with exhilaration. "Juvia, that was so fun! I can't wait to ride with you again!"
Juvia and Gray exchanged glances, and Juvia handed Gray the two pillows. "She is in a very good mood, do you not think?" Juvia asked under her breath. Gray shrugged, but was also watching Lucy skip up the steps, good hand clutching her suitcase and her other arm swinging in her sling. Frowning slightly, Gray followed her upstairs. Juvia jumped back in her car, and with a squeal, pulled away.
Inside, Lucy had deposited her bag, and was sitting on a folding chair. She smiled at him when he came in.
"You seem to be in a better mood." Gray mentioned, and she shrugged. "It just feels nice to get out and about. Plus, Juvia's driving was very... invigorating."
"Ha, well, that's true." Gray smirked. "She's not so bad when you get to know her."
"Are you two..." Lucy trailed off, embarrassed.
"No, nothing like that." Gray gave her a charming smile. "We work well together. Despite how it looks, our personalities are very similar. She's adaptable, like water, and I'm cold as fuck." He chuckled.
"Are you away from the guild often?"
"No more than any other guild member. We all do grunt work for the most part, with some special assignments here and there. Natsu is the only member who doesn't travel much. He's not good with transportation."
"You mentioned that before." Lucy sighed. Her high was wearing off, and stress and boredom were setting back in. "So, ah, what should we do now?"
Gray glanced at his phone. "Levy will be off work soon. We can go there and hang out."
So they did. Levy preferred books to television, but she had a small set and a PlayStation. Soon Gray and Gajeel were involved in a serious game of Call of Duty and both Levy and Lucy had their nose in a book. As the minutes ticked by, Lucy was getting more and more anxious and uncomfortable. Her arm hurt. Her head hurt. Her back hurt. Looking up, she tapped Levy on the shoulder.
"Hmm?" The other girl replied without a glance.
"Um, my arm hurts. Do you know if your doctor said I could take anything?" Lucy kept her voice low, but she didn't have to whisper. The grunts and curses from the guys were enough to mask her query.
"Oh!" Levy looked up. "She gave me something! You can take them up to every eight hours, as needed, no refills. The bottle is in the bathroom, by the sink. Your name is on it."
An orange bottle sat exactly where Levy said it would, but it only had her name, the prescription and the dosage scrawled on a sticker on the front. Shrugging, Lucy swallowed two of the pills, and pocketed the bottle. It was from there that she heard the commotion. Stepping into the hallway, she began to be clear about what was going on as she approached the front room.
"You ruined a perfect mission, you fucking jackass." Gray's voice, irritated, bordering on angry,
"Yeah, well you didn't just spend ten fucking minutes tryna' figure out where your goddamned ward was, so fuck off."
"You didn't, for one fucking second think that maybe we were at HER NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOR'S?"
Natsu stood in front of Gray, seething, and the other man had quickly worked up to the boiling point. Gajeel was holding a black and white cat Lucy was seeing for the first time, and looked ready to jump in at any moment. Levy was just shaking her head. "Guys, can you not do that in my living room? I don't want to have to redecorate again."
She was ignored. Natsu had chosen that moment to take a swing at Gray, who dodged a second too late. The hit caught him just at the edge of his jaw and he stumbled, hit the corner of Levy's couch, and tripped into Lucy knocking them both over. At thee same time, Juvia popped her head in saying "Juvia saw the door still open. Gray-sama we..." she trailed off with a gasp, seeing Gray on top of Lucy. "Juvia was right! Miss Lucy is after Gray-sama!"
"No, Juvia!" Gray shouted as he pushed himself up, then helped Lucy to her feet. "That idiot hit me, and Lucy got in the way."
Lucy's eyes were watering from the pain in her arm, and the words rang in her ears. Lucy is in the way... in the way... in the way... tears came unbidden, and Levy growled then hit Gray, and Natsu in turn. "Assholes! Look at what you've done. You know you aren't supposed to fight like that!"
Lucy shook her head. "I'm fine. My arm hurts, that is all."
Levy's shoulders relaxed, and she exchanged looks with Gajeel. "Hey, it's past dinnertime. Why don't we go out to eat? Mira's probably stopped serving food, and I don't want to eat leftovers."
Natsu perked up. "You buying?"
"I'll buy." Lucy said, emphatically. At least she could do this much.
The fast food joint was mostly empty past the dinner rush, but a couple of punk-looking kids loitered in the back. They did not bother the members of Fairy Tail though. Lucy shifted on her hard plastic chair, scrunched between Natsu and Juvia. Across from her Levy beamed and both Gray and Natsu pouted. Gajeel and Juvia were talking about something, when several men and a woman walked in, and the mood shifted. Everyone kept on as they were, but Natsu and Gajeel were stiffer, exchanging slight nods. Gray had slouched back even more, if possible, and Juvia had gone silent. Levy's smile was forced and tight. Lucy examined the other group more closely, and saw they all wore matching patches on their outerwear.
"Grimoire Heart." Levy muttered through clenched teeth. "This is neutral territory, but they're rivals, so, we have to watch our backs."
The other gang had noticed their group, but seemed content to avoid the Fairy Tail members. The female had sat down nearly as far from them as possible, near the rowdy kids, and was browsing her smartphone. The men joined her in quick succession, eating and talking as stiffly as those around Lucy.
"Let's get out of here." Gajeel muttered, and was just getting up when the Grimoire Heart girl pointed at something on her phone. As one, all the heads at that table swiveled towards Lucy.
"Shit." Gray muttered, ruffling his hair. Next to her, Natsu was so tense he was nearly quivering. The girl had stood up, walking towards them.
"Excuse me? You're Lucy, right? The one that has been in the news?"
"What?" Lucy stammered. She hadn't seen anything about the news! Had her father done something?
"You're a missing person?" The girl was good at acting nice, but her smile was slipping, and behind her the guys were starting to move around. "There is a reward, from the District Attorney's office, if you're found."
"You are mistaken." Levy interjected. "You have the wrong person."
The woman cracked. "Hey, Fairy Bitch, find your silence. I wasn't talking to you."
Gajeel moved but Levy moved faster. Despite being half a head shorter than the other woman, she swung hard and landed a firm hit upside her jaw. The girl fell back, and it was too late. One of the guys she was with had produced a handgun from somewhere, and there was a scream from one of the employees. Lucy found herself being pulled to the dirty floor by Juvia, where Levy was also crouching and shaking her hand. "Ouch." She muttered. "Still worth it."
Lucy had a partial view of what was happening. The Grimoire Heart girl had scooted behind a planter, and she could see Gray's legs next to the wall that separated the booths. Gajeel she couldn't see at all, but Natsu was barely shielded, behind a different table, and had two Glock 9mm semi-automatics. Where he had been keeping them, Lucy couldn't have guessed, but she also couldn't tell where Levy kept pulling her small pistol from.
"We are not going to be allowed at Weinerschnitzel any more." Juvia said, mournfully.
"I know." Levy patted her consolingly. "Tell those idiots to step back, or you'll never see a chili dog again."
Juvia moaned but instead called out, "Gray-sama! Tell Juvia you are not hurt?!"
"Goddammit woman, not now!" Was the answer, followed by cursing from multiple parties.
"Seems to be fine." Levy shrugged.
Lucy wanted to scream. Her head was buried in her arms but still the pop! pop! pop! of the shots being fired sounded as loud as cannonballs in her head. Beyond their small enclave, she couldn't make out many words, but she muffled a horrified gasp when she saw one of the Grimoire Heart members slump in front of them, blood pooling underneath his vacant-eyed head, while Natsu chambered his guns. Levy took the momentary lapse to yell out, "Natsu! We're going to get banned! I'll tell Erza what happened, if this doesn't stop!"
The two remaining Grimoire Heart men backed off, palms up. "Whoa, whoa, wait a minute. We didn't know we were dealing with Fairy Tail's Enforcers. Man, shit got too real, too fast."
"Lemme take Isabel and we'll leave, man, we ain't trying to get beef." The younger of the two looked between them and the woman. At Natsu's slight nod he pulled her up and all three scurried out the door.
"You okay?" It was a question asked all around, Lucy found both Levy and Natsu looking at her with inquiring eyes. She ignored them, ignored Gajeel pointing and gesturing with the restaurant manager, ignored Gray trying to pry Juvia off his neck. She stumbled outside and collapsed on the dirty curb. She heard slow footsteps following her, but she didn't turn around.
"No, no, this isn't okay!" She moaned. "I was trying to get away from these fears, I was trying to save my life, but this is even worse!"
"Then why the hell'd you come to Fairy Tail for help?" Natsu asked, roughly.
"I didn't! I mean, I didn't know. Once I did, it all seemed too late. Besides, you probably would have killed me for knowing too much." She put her face on her knees, and turned her head to where she could see his black clad legs from the corner of her eye.
Natsu snorted. "This isn't a movie, Luce."
"So that man in there is dead for good?" Her voice was accusatory, but Natsu just shrugged.
"They were Grimoire Heart, and barely members at that. I've never seen any of them before. Everyone joins knowing the risks."
"Do they?" Lucy asked, mostly to herself, as she remembered Makarov's conditions.
"At least tonight, it was one of them, not one of us." Natsu stepped past her.
"And Natsu didn't burn the building down!" Levy added, cheerfully, walking by with Gajeel.
"And we are not banned from Weinerschnitzel." Juvia said in relief, clinging to Gray's arm.
"So whaddaya say, Luce?" Natsu called from his bike, holding out the helmet. "You gonna sit there all night?"
With a sigh and a moan, Lucy pulled herself to her feet. He looked like an idiot, but he was right. She could only go forward.
Author's Note: A question and a bit of information for my readers! First - do readers prefer these long chapters, or would a greater number of shorter chapters be easier to read? At the current length, I expect the story to have between 25 - 30 chapters. If I shortened them, then you'd probably get 30 - 35 chapters, but the physical length of the story as a whole would be shorter, and the updates will not come any quicker. I'm asking entirely in regards to readability, not update speed. Let me know how you feel about chapter length!
Second, I'm bad at writing physical action, so a lot of the plot will be driven by Lucy and Natsu's thoughts and feelings. (I will work very hard to keep them as OC as possible.) However, there will be some action, but because I have never personally been in firefights, fistfights (outside of bar brawls, lol) or car chases, please forgive my inaccuracies. I'm extremely amenable to resources that aid me in writing those scenes, but I'd rather you didn't just send flat criticism. Help me out!
And speaking of help, I'm always looking for beta-readers! My profile has all the information, and you can get a hold of me here, or on Twitter or Tumblr, both rockermystic. Thank you!