Oh yeah! First chapter in ages! (Anyone still there?)
graystripemkc:Thanks for the review! As always it gave me a big smile! I'm sure our girl will one day show Laxus his place!
germanfangirl: Than you so much! Your review made be blush. Seriously I read it over ten times and every time this stupis grin on my lips just grew!
ThornsandRoses22: Thank you for the review! I'm not sure will the keys appear in this story, considering the places and times when Lucy required them. But we will see!
aliciacevbra: Thank you for the review! Laxus really is the alpha!
DoomMarine55: Yeah, I'm a fan girl not going to deny it. But this story happens before the story of Fairy Tail really even begins, so I can say with confidence that Natsu would have zero chances beating Laxus at the current time. It would be completely different thing, if we would be talking about the ending of the manga. Then Natsu could maybe have a chance against Laxus (thou I still think Laxus would win, because I'm a fan girl XP).
August the Mad Woman: Thank you so much for the review! I loved it! I hope my story will fill all your expectations. And the end of your revies: 1000% the truth. Laxus is a moster.
AGreen2222: Thank you for the review! It always nice to hear that my story is enjoyed. And such a constructive criticism is always nice to receive. Thank you.
Erza Uchiha: Thank you for the review! *blushing* Your review... I could't agree more. Laxus is such lovable asshole, who makes you love and hate him at te same time.
kurahieiritr JIO: Thanks for the many reviews! I loved the constructive criticism in them. I agree that Lucy has a temper, but I like to thin that in my story all this is new (and somewhat scary) to her and it takes her a while to get used to it and find her usual temper again. But anyway, I hope I can make Lucy as true to her character as possible in the future chapters!
As usually sorry for any grammar and spelling mistakes you might and will find.
Hiro Mashima own Fairy Tail and I'm just playing with the characters.
A man, one head taller than anyone else, walked slowly down the street, hands stuffed in his hoodies pockets. His height alone was enough to make people turn their head toward him, but what made staring him almost impossible was the eye-catching hair of his and the somewhat ominous looking tattoo decorating his face. To these passersby - excluding his looks - the man was like any other normal townspeople on a morning walk. But if someone who knew the man had seen him, they would have immediately assumed that something was wrong. Compared to his normal state it was like someone had drained all that extra energy the man usually had. He seemed too...normal
Letting out a sigh, Bickslow glanced toward the blue sky. It was rare, but even he had bad days, days when he had all the right to be a bit less energetic than usually. Hell, anyone, who had just yesterday been called useless by their best friend, had the right to feel off. Getting yelled and mocked by Laxus wasn't anything new to him and his team and they had gotten used to it. It wasn't like the man really meant all those not-so-nice things he blurts out in his anger. Still, it didn't mean that those words didn't hurt or that they didn't make him want to punch Laxus in the face.
Huffing through his nose, Bickslow took a small piece of paper from his pocket. His face twisted with internal pain, when he opened the paper's folds and saw the botch on it. If Laxus had serious problems with controlling his anger, then Freed had zero artistic skills. Just look at this! How was he ever going to make anything out of these uneven, shaky lines and dots peppering the white surface. With a lot of imagination you could almost see a leopard with wings and antlers, but you would never ever be able to even guess that the horrible drawing was supposed to represent a map. A map of Magnolia on top of that.
Bickslow shook his head desperately. He was never going to find that place he was heading for. Stuffing the most useless piece of paper back in his pocket, he continued to the direction he had been going, hoping that it was even remotely the right direction. His steps, however, halted, when a familiar voice caught his attention. He scanned his surrounding almost immediately finding the owner of the voice standing in front of a liquor store arguing with an old man, most likely the shopkeeper.
"Please! I'm begging you! One beer. That's all I'm asking. My life literally depends on it. I swear on my mother's name that it isn't for me."
"Swear all you want, I don't care. No ID, no beer. Now get out of here! Kids these days!" The shopkeeper growled angrily before slamming the store's door on the girl's face.
Bickslow raised his eyebrows curiously. He had no idea what was going on there, but what he knew was that his mood had immediately improved after seeing the beautiful figure of Lucy. His instincts were all telling him to go to the girl and hear the story behind the odd exchange he had witnessed, it was surely going to improve his mood even more. He just knew it. The small mission of his forgotten for the time being, Bickslow changed his direction toward the girl.
Sticking her tongue out at the store's door, Lucy spun around tears of frustration glistering in the corners of her eyes. No one would ever know, even if the stinky old man had just sold her one measly can of beer. Tomorrow, however, all of Fiore would surely know that the young heiress of the Heartfilia Concern had been murdered. She would make sure to leave behind a message telling the world that this stinky old man could have been able to save her life, if he had just sold her a can of beer.
Her silent grumbles and mumbles were cut off by a happy greeting, which made her lift her gaze up startled.
"Yo!" Bickslow threw a hand in the air and watched amused when Lucy lifted her eyes at him, a startled expression on her face. When she first saw his face, the startled expression was spiced up a little with worry, but then like someone had turned on the lights, her expression lit up with a bright smile as she recognized him. It was a bit boring that she had recognized him so fast. It usually took double the time even for people he had known for years, if he wasn't wearing his visors and didn't have his babies with him. "I though that beer wasn't really your thing." He tried to open the conversation with a joke. Didn't go as planned.
Lucy stared the grinning guy for a long second and burst into tears of relief. Bickslow couldn't have showed up ona better time. Maybe there was still someone looking after her. And maybe she was going to able to avoid the death sentence waiting just behind the corner. "Bickslow." She wailed out. She has never seen an actual angle, but she was sure that they looked exactly like the guy in front of her. There was no way Bickslow was going to leave her in trouble, not like some stinky old man. "I need your help." She sniffled.
"W-what?" Bickslow, who had gone into mild shock after seeing the girl's tears, stuttered. He couldn't believe that his innocent jokes had now not only once but twice made Lucy cry. The first time, he admits, was his fault, but what on Earth did he do this time? He would have never guessed that Lucy would be so sensitive about the fact that she didn't like the beer they had offered her. Had she taken his comment about mages and drinking seriously? Of course you could be a real mage, even if you didn't drink beer! And now what? She need his help. Help with what? Because even he wasn't immoral enough to actually teach minors to drink.
Shaking his head, Bickslow flashed Lucy a very uncharacteristic unsure smile. "Help with what?" He asked carefully. Please no teaching, please no teaching, please no teaching...
"Please help me to buy a can of beer!"
Bickslow blinked his eyes. Say what? "You want me to- What? Why would you want to buy a beer?" He didn't hide his confusion from his voice, didn't see reason to.
Lucy scratched her cheek with a finger, smiling sheepishly. Then poking her forefingers together, she mumbled. "I might or might not have thrown away one of Laxus' beers. He told me not to touch them... i'm dead meat, if he notices that one of the cans is missing. I have to get him a new one before that happens." There really wasn't any 'might or might not'. She had gone and poured one of Laxus' beer down the sewer. Period.
After the one-sided fight - if you could even really call it a fight - Laxus had retired upstairs and didn't show his face for the rest of the day. Being left alone with her own feelings of anger and bitterness, she had spend a good part of the evening cursing the man out loud and quietly. She couldn't believe that anyone was able to treat their friends so horrible. If she had as amazing friends as the Thunder God Tribe was, she would make sure to cherish them and never speak such a hurtful words to them. She was so angry at Laxus. That...that arrogant bastard!
Lucy didn't know what kind of a brain black out she had had. But before she realized it, she had marched to the kitchen, yanked the fridge open and pulled out one of the beers. With one aggressive pull of a finger the can hissed open. The sound made her wake up from the trance like state and there she was, standing in the kitchen one of Laxus' beers in her hand. Maybe it had been some subconscious attempt to pay back at the man, but without a real plan in mind she had no idea what she was supposed to with a full can of beer. She sure wasn't going to drink it. No way. She had never tasted anything so horrible.
Knowing that she wouldn't be able to drink it and with no way to re-seal the can the beer would soon go bad, she decided to just pour the liquor to the kitchen's sink. As she watched the golden liquid circle into the sewer, Laxus voice rang in her head "Thirdly, don't touch my beer". All color drained from her face, when she saw the last droplets disappear into the darkness of the pipes, never coming back. What had she done?!
Hand shaking she placed the can on the counter. The first joint of forefinger between her teeth, she started to pace back and forth eyes glued to the can. She was dead. She was so dead. No matter how angry she had been, she couldn't believe she had gone and done something like throwing Laxus' beer away. If Laxus realizes that one of his beers has vanished, she wouldn't need to worry about her arranged marriage anymore. No. She wouldn't have to worry about anything, ever again, because she would be dead.
Lucy had stopped, when the only way to survive the situation crossed her mind. She would have to buy him a new one. she had immediately glanced toward the clock on the wall. Seeing the time, made her want to cry. It was too late for any store selling beer to be open. What was she going to do now? Would she really have to wait till morning?
Not seeing any other way, she had picked up the empty can and hide it in her bag. It was the only place Laxus would surely stay away from. She could dispose it later. With that done, she had laid on her make-shift bed and closed her eyes in hopes of sleep. Silently she prayed that the morning would come soon and that Laxus would get any nightly cravings for beer.
The sleep, however, refused to come and after many long hours the morning finally came. As silently as possible Lucy had sneaked out the house and run to the first liquor store she found. It was sure that if she had known that the shopkeeper was going to be such a stinky old man, she wouldn't have waited for another hour and half for the store to open. She would have used the precious time finding a store that would actually sell her something. But no, she hadn't done that and now all that time had gone to waste, and she was still empty handed, even thou Laxus could be getting up any second now.
Bickslow stared the distressed girl a moment, then broke into laugh. He had to admit, Lucy had some balls. Even he would think twice before touching something Boss-man had especially told to keep his hands off. Especially after yesterday, he would make sure to circle that say thing from afar. Thou he was quite sure that Lucy would be safe even if she didn't go trough all the trouble to get Laxus a new beer. Boss-man wouldn't bother to count every single can of beer in his fridge and knowing that they had just come back from the mission, he must have just filled his stocks. The chances of Laxus realizing that one of his beers had gone missing was close to zero.
Biting his lip, Bickslow fought back a mischievous knew he probably should have told this to Lucy, but... What fun would that be? This kind of entertainment was just what he needed to lift his spirit. Clearing his throat, he stepped on the girl's side and flung an arm around her shoulders. "I know a great trick, which will get you that beer." He clicked his tongue at the same time snapping his finger at the girl and giving her a wink.
Lucy moved her head a back slightly feeling uncomfortable. She couldn't help the uneasy feeling in her guts. She didn't know what this said trick was, but being presented in such manner made it sound shady at least. Still, she was kinda curious, and desperate enough to try even a little shady tricks. "What kind of a trick?" She asked with reservation.
"It's very simple." Bickslow started by taking a step away from Lucy. "You just have to cross your arms like this, lift them up a little, then lean forward, look up through your eyelashes, stick your lips out and lastly-" He explained at the same time showing her what to do. "You just have to blink your eyes and with your most seductive voice say 'please'. Like this: Please~"
Lucy watched eyes round as the guy did as he told. She almost choked, pink hue appearing on her cheeks, when Bickslow instructed her to use her 'most seductive voice'. But when the last 'please~' rolled from the guy's tongue, she burst into laugh. She didn't meant to be offending, but... He giggles got stronger. Instead of seductive Bickslow had sounded like a middle aged transvestite trying to lure younger men to have a drink with him.
When she got her laugh under control, Lucy cleared her throat. "Let me try." She might have been raised in an isolation, but she wasn't completely obvious. She knew what Bickslow was trying to make her do, and in all truth she didn't really mind. If something it actually sounded kinda fun. She took a deep breath, then with pink cheeks she leaned slightly forward arms crossed under her boobs. With a tiny lift her breasts bulged nicely out of her top's low neckline. She pursed her lips out and looked up through her lashes, locking her eyes with Bickslow. "Please~" She purred.
It was Bickslow's turn to stare eyes wide open and almost choke to his own breath. He hadn't planned this to happen. He had just wanted to tease the girl a little, maybe earn a cute blush, but... Oh, boy! Unintentionally his eyes dropped a bit too low. Staring openly at the inviting cleavage, he felt his mouth water. He probably should have felt bad for tricking Lucy to do something like this, but since he hadn't forced her to do anything, why not enjoy the sight.
Bickslow lifted both his thumps up. "Perfect!" He exclaimed eyes glued to the boobs. "Now go in there, ask for a beer and finish with this. I wouldn't be surprised, if you got one or two for free."
"Alright!" Lucy fist pumped, missing the disappointed look in Bickslow's eyes when her breasts slipped back to their places. Feeling an odd surge of confident, she stomped to the liquor store's door. With almost aggressive "Excuse me!" she slammed the door open and stepped in.
Short moment later the store's door flew open and Lucy marched out shoulder in ears and teeth gritting. "Stinky old fart!" She shouted, kicking a rock on the pavement and startling Bickslow, who had waited her deep in thoughts.
Bickslow blinked couple of times. Not that he had taken Lucy as a quiet girl, but that outburst was a surprise, he wasn't going to deny that. Giving his head a light shake, he took a sliding step closer to Lucy. "Sooo," He started. "Didn't go as planned?" Somewhat a stupid question as anyone could see it didn't go as they had wanted. The question was more like why didn't the plan work. If a girl like Lucy would come and beg him in such a manner, he would have been ready to give her anything she asked. Maybe the dude was gay?
"No!" Lucy huffed out frustrated. "I, however, got banned from the store for the rest of my life."
"That sucks." A small silence. "I would have given you that beer. For free." Bickslow winked at the girl and let his tongue roll out of his mouth. A poor attempt to cheer her up.
Lucy stared him for a moment, the let out a sigh. "Thanks, I guess."
The two of them stayed quiet a second longer, until Lucy grabbed her head with both hands and started to ruffle her hair. "What am I going to do now?!" She cried out. Laxus could be checking his fridge at the said second and she still didn't have that stupid beer. Maybe it would be best to just head to the train station, jump in the first train and head back home. She could send some money as compensation for wasting his time and as a thanks for letting her sleep the night under his roof. Laxus would be petty enough to hunt her down for one beer...would he?
Bickslow watched as Lucy sunk into desperation. It did make him feel a bit bad. Deciding that this time he should actually really help her, he turned toward the liquor store. "Wait here." He called over his shoulder, before entering the same building Lucy had just exited.
Lucy had hardly processed what the man had said to her, when he already walked out of the store with a small brown paper bag. She watched curiously as the bag rustling, Bickslow pulled out a tin can from it and handed it to her. "Here." He grinned at her. Eyes widening, she stared the can, then Bickslow and then the can again. Was it really what she though it was?
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Lucy chanted. She would have jumped to give the guy a hug, if not for the can in her hands. She surely wasn't going to endanger it in anyway. Right now she was holding her life in her hands. "Anything! I will do anything! Just say it! Of course, I will pay for this too. That goes without saying. But if there is anything I can do for you, anything at all, please tell me!"
Bickslow let out a laugh at the aggressive way Lucy was inching closer to him, eyes sparkling like staring at some miracle maker. And all he had done was buy a one simple can of beer. "It's alright." He laughed, while stepping back and lifting his hands up. "You don't have to do nor pay anything. We're good." He reassured. The temptation to tell the girl that he had already gotten his reward - and what a good reward it was - but he didn't want to make things awkward for once.
"But-" Lucy tried, the sparks in her eyes dying down a little.
"No buts. There seriously isn't anything I ne-" Bickslow snapped his mouth shut, when he suddenly remembered the piece of paper in his pocket. "Actually, I take that back. There is something you might be able to help with." Lucy's eyes lit back as he rummaged through his pocket for the paper. He pulled it out and opened the folds. "I'm supposed to pick up something for Freed, but the guy is a horrible drawer. And I'm being nice here."
As soon as Bickslow showed the drawing at her, she had to admit that the guy wasn't lying. Freed sucked at drawing. She had no idea what was going on the paper. For a moment longer she tried to figure the pattern out, but in the end she had to give up. "What is it?"
"A map."
"A map?!" She didn't mean to sound so surprised, but... How on Earth was that supposed to be a map?! She gave the paper a disbelieving look.
"Told you. Freed had ZERO artistic skills. Anyway," Bickslow turned the paper at him for a second and then with finger pointing one of the biggest dots on the paper he turned it back to Lucy. "If I understood correctly, this is supposed to be our guild building. And this one is supposed to be the place I'm going to. And I believe we are somewhere around here." He explained, finger moving around the paper.
Lucy nodded slowly. Knowing what was what didn't really help much to understand the poor attempt of a map. But if she was to use her imagination really, really much... She place a finger on one of the dots. "That could be the cathedral." She suggested. She had somewhat memorized the basic layout of Magnolia before coming here, but with a map like that the cathedral was just a wild guess.
Bicslow whipped the paper around, back to him, eye on the dot. Well, damn! Lucy could be absolutely right! "That means..." He glanced around. "I should probably head that way." He pointed at the direction he had already been heading to. Great! A big, tongue relieving smile split his face in half. "Thanks-"
"Oi! What are you still doing here?" Irritated male voice cut him off. Both Bickslow and Lucy turned their heads toward the voice and saw the shopkeeper standing at the store's door finger pointing at Lucy. "I told you I would call the guards, If I saw you one more time- Hey!" His ranting ended with a shout as he noticed the beer in Lucy's hands. "You!" His finger jumped to Bickslow. "Giving alcohol to minor! My alcohol! In front of my store!" The man turned red with rage. And when he took a first stomp toward the pair, they glanced at each other.
"Run!" Bickslow shouted.
"Wha-?!" Lucy watched startled as the guy spun around on his heels and sprinted away from the scene. She glanced back at the shopkeeper's direction and saw him marching toward her with a face red as a tomato. "W-wait!" She cried after Bickslow, before running after him.
"H-Hey! Stop right there!" Bickslow and Lucy could hear the man shout, but neither of them stopped nor even turned to see had he chased after them.
Block or two later the pair slowed down, deciding that they had made it to the saver waters. Both stopped completely to catch their breaths. When worst of the huffing and puffing was done, their eyes met by accident and both burst into laugh.
Lucy couldn't remember when was the last time she had laughed so much. It must have been years. It was also the first time in for ever that she was feeling herself so free. No walls, no judging eyes, no scolding voices. No one was telling her to correct her posture or to cover her mouth when laughing, or to otherwise laugh more sophisticated. Oh, how she would have wanted for all the days be like this one.
When their laughter finally died down, Bickslow looked down at the paper still in his hand. "Alright then. I think I'm going to continue to that direction." He pointed over his shoulder with a thump. "And you're probably going to hurry back to Boss-man's place. So, I guess this is a good bye for now."
For a second there Lucy had forgotten all about the beer and Laxus. "Right!" She exclaimed startled. How could she forget something so important. "See you!" She hastily waved at Bickslow and was just about to leave, when she stopped. Earning a curious look from the guy, she turned at him. She couldn't shake off the unpleasant feeling that it was somehow her fault what happened yesterday, that Laxus had treated the Thunder God Tribe so badly because of her. "I'm sorry." She peeped.
Bemused Bickslow blinked his eyes. "For what?"
"I mean... Laxus kicked you out and... I'm sure it has something to do with me and..." She couldn't the right words to phrase her thoughts.
Bickslow snorted amused. "You don't have to worry about that. Laxus just has a bad temper and when he has a bad day it's even worse. It's not like this is the first time something like this has happened. We are already used to it."
Lucy furrowed. No one should be used to be treated like that. "Still..."
"Seriously, you don't have to worry about it. We kinda brought it on ourselves this time. But hey, as much as we are used to Boss-man's outburst, we are also experts at calming him down." Bickslow gave Lucy an assuring wink, earning a small smile from the girl.
"If you say so... Well, see you later then." Lucy nodded her head, before leaving in different direction with Bickslow.
I enjoy writing Bickslow and Lucy together. They are so much fun! Not much Laxus in this chapter, but I promise you our lovely asshole will be back in net chapter.
Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter! And as always, review are more than welcome!