Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.


Title: Rules

Pairing: Lucy x Freed

Requester: furidojasutin

Prompt: no prompt


Rules.

They governed his life; they were the order of the world, the sense by which Freed understood the world around him. Human interactions were guided by social rules, and countries by the laws they enacted. Things worked because people followed those guidelines, whether they were spoken or implied.

People, too, were governed by personal codes, were were another type of rule.

Rules governed language as well, and that formed the core of Freed's magic. Rules set forth by strings of words, which had their own rules, were binding in ways that made Freed feel powerful. Anything in his space, he could order to his liking - bring form from the chaos around him.

This would seem to be at odds with how Fairy Tail operated. But upon closer inspection, it wasn't difficult to see that Fairy Tail had its own set of ironclad rules that it followed, even if they often ran counter to the rules of outsiders. It was contained chaos, and so long as Freed could align himself to those rules as well, he found Fairy Tail a pleasant place to be.

But sometimes, he found it difficult to relate to the other members of the guild. He understood the rules by which Evergreen, Bickslow, and Laxus had aligned themselves. They were predictable to him, thanks to long familiarity and common goals.

Running up against other people's rules however - or the apparent lack of them in some cases - grated on Freed badly. When the world failed to order itself to his expectations, he coped poorly. Freed was well aware of this flaw within himself, but it was a difficult one to adjust for, because he felt if he discarded his need for rules it would be akin to throwing away an intrinsic, and vital, part of himself. He wasn't exactly willing to cut out a piece of himself without very good reasons - reasons that had yet to present themselves to him.

Freed thought maybe he could follow the example of someone else, in order to better himself.

He immediately thought of Lucy.

Lucy's magic wasn't really all that alike Freed's, at least on the surface. Levy's was much closer, and she understood language in a way few others did. However... at the core of Lucy's magic, and her soul, were promises.

What was a promise, but another type of rule?

And Lucy lived by her promises - they were as much a part of her as Freed's rules were.

If anyone would understand, he felt it would be her.

It didn't hurt that Lucy was an extremely pleasant, and orderly, person to be around. And that she loved talked about her magic, and when Freed seemed especially interested it nearly sent her over the moon.

Freed thought that maybe he rather liked being around someone that was as excited to discuss the rules and boundaries of magic as he was.