Gossip Girls: A fan fiction depicting Fairy Hills the centre and heart of gossip and rumours. What are the Fairy Tail ladies up to? Mischief and mayhem are inevitable with how ridiculous some stories are. Separating the lies and the truth is harder than it seems.
Welcomed to the Club, Kicked out of the Team
Lucy skipped down the yellow soiled pathway, she could barely contain her excitement. The cool evening breeze running through her hair, she inhaled its freshness as she reached her destination. The big red sign welcomed her, and the oak french doors stared at her. This was it. This was Fairy Hills.
Of course Lucy frequently visited the guild's resident dorms for females, most of her fellow girl friends resided in the dorms while she had a comfortable apartment in town. Her purpose for today however, was different.
"Natsu is a complete idiot," the blonde complained for the umpteenth time that day to her alcoholic friend.
"Let me guess, breaking and entering," the brunette slurred between sips from her barrel. This was a conventional conversation that the two girls had weekly.
"I know right? I don't even mind that he trespasses anymore," she groaned, "but I swear he doesn't know that a door is there for a reason," she threw her hands in the air as a sign of hopelessness.
And as usual, the card mage chuckled. Their talk would usually transition to a different topic, and today it was Cana's turn to choose.
"Mhmmm. Yup. Rightttt. Why don't we have a sleepover at my place tonight?" she hiccuped, face red due to the alcohol.
Lucy considered her friend's request, it was usual she though. Levy has told her visitors weren't allowed to stay past ten, male or female. Back then Lucy had suggested a plan so that she wouldn't be caught, her hopes fell when Levy then added Erza was head girl. Being Erza's teammate, Lucy was no stranger to the red-heads wrath and strict attitude. She shuddered at the thought, she did not want to get on Erza's bad side. Since then, she never considered breaking the rules again.
"Cana, I'm not allowed there past ten," she reminded her intoxicated friend. Lucy wondered if alcohol made her forgetful.
"Don't worry you're pretty little head, Lucy. I got special permission," she boasted.
Lucy was still unconvinced, "I really don't want to risk angering Erza."
The brunette gave her a smirk before assuring, "Oh, you won't. Trust me. Erza will be there, too. It has been planned for a while now. See you at seven," she waved off.
"Wait-!" the girl hadn't even given Lucy time to access the situation and consider her options. Lucy sighed in defeat, until she persuaded herself that it would be okay. Cana said that it has been planned for some time, and she didn't want to let her friend down.
Excitement was replaced by nervousness as the doors in front of her creaked open, the sight of scarlet hair freezing the younger mage into place. Lucy could've swore that she stopped breathing for a good twenty seconds until the other mage greeted her with a smile.
"I see you're here early," she inquired, it was still a quarter until their meeting time.
Lucy couldn't read her expression, she could be completely fine or totally doomed.
"H-hai! C-Cana invited m-me to a sleepover. She said she already had p-permission from y-you," Lucy rushed a stammered explanation, beads of sweat sliding down her forehead.
"Uhuh, she did. Why don't you come in?" expecting Lucy to follow her inside, oblivious that she had made the blonde a nervous wreck. That was Erza for you.
Lucy followed Erza down the halls and up the stairs to the top floor, scarlet hair swishing side to side to the rhythm her hips swayed. The requip mage was wearing an oversized button-up shirt that hung over a pair of black spandex shorts, it somewhat reminded Lucy of a particular teammate of theirs. She unconsciously laughed.
"What? Why are you laughing, Lucy?" the older girl stopped in her tracks as she turned to see the blonde give her a sheepish smile, not knowing what Lucy found so amusing.
"Oh, nothing. It's rare to see you in something else other than your armour," she tried to suppress the last of her giggles.
Erza seemed unsure of the explanation, but she let it slide, "Mhmmm, okay," as she continued the walk down the hall.
When they finally stopped at a door, Lucy became confused, "Isn't this your room, Erza?"
"Yes, it indeed is. I only allow these sleepovers if I have full supervision of them. Also, my room is the only room that has enough space for us all," she offered.
"Us all?" Lucy cried out as the door revealed a number of Fairy Tail's female wizards gathered, nails being painted and hair being styled. Apparently this sleepover was not exclusive to Cana, Erza and herself, but also included Mira, Lisanna, Levy, Juvia, and Evergreen.
"Ayeee, you made it Lu-chan," the most petite of the girls greeted her. The poor girl was still getting over her initial shock when she felt a very familiar dark aura surround her.
"What is Love Rival doing here?" the water mage demanded.
"Be nice, Juvia. I don't think Lucy is interested in, Gray," Mira said, as if knowingly, to which Lucy agreed as she hurriedly exchanged greetings with the other girls.
"Now that everyone's here, this meeting can now commence?" Mira announced proudly with the clap of her hands.
"Meeting??? I thought this was a sleepover," the newcomer's head was spinning.
Beside her, Erza let out a sigh, "This is Fairy Hill's secret club. Mira insisted that you get recruited since you've been a loyal member of the guild and ... for other reasons."
"Titania, you speak of us so lowly although you're a part of us," Evergreen acting offended.
"I'm only here to supervise," she said plainly, setting herself apart from the rest, "By now you know that I'm not one for gossip."
Evergreen huffed, "When you put it that way, you make it seem so bad. No one is hurting anyone here."
"Gossip?" Lucy asked inquisitively.
"We're the Gossip Girls. We discuss all the steaming hot tea here, you've probably heard some pretty ridiculous rumours around the guild..." the youngest of the Strauss siblings answered.
Lucy thought back and recalled some rumours that she couldn't quite believe when she was new. However, as she spent more time at the guild, those rumours didn't seem so far fetched.
"This club is responsible for getting to the bottom of things. We uncover and discover," Levy giving her an explanation.
"And you, Lucy, are our newest member!" Mira declares joyfully.
After an hour of listening to their discussions, Lucy had established the type of dynamic the group had. True to her word, Erza seemed disinterested, refraining from participating in the conversation only added a comment or too. However, Lucy acknowledged that the red-head listened even if she didn't say anything, Lucy caught on when Erza's face contorted to different expressions as the 'meeting' progressed. Juvia, as expected, only talked about Gray and poor Levy seemed to be a targeted for her secrets. Although, the script mage usually used her smarts to deduce if a rumour was true or not and calculated the probability. Evergreen enjoyed herself at the expense of the other girl's embarrassments but often refusing to share any of her own secrets. Lisanna acted as Mira's assistant as Mira was obvious the president of this club; Lucy noticed that these rumours were heavily about the Fairy Tail mages' love lives, in particular, Mira's interest lied with the mages in the room.
Lucy relaxed into the atmosphere, which was something she would soon regret. Although she had her doubts about suddenly joining such a crazy club, it was a lie if Lucy said she wasn't having fun.
"So now that we have evidence that Levy has a crush on our resident iron dragon slayer," Mira exclaimed loudly, as Levy's face reddened like a ripened tomato. Evergreen slyly slipped the fact that the script-mage wrote 'iron' with a heart in the middle of the 'o', Levy couldn't get herself out of that one.
Mira continued, "So, Lucy, what about you? Who do you have a crush on? We know each others' in this club, so it's only fair you share as well," the She-Demon grinned mischievously.
To prove her what she said was true, she pointed around the room singling out the other members, "Levy, as you know has a crush on Gajeel. Everyone knows Juvia loves Gray, and Evergreen tries to hide it but she has a thing for my brother. Cana is addicted to her alcohol, and aside from Lisanna and myself who don't like anyone, Erza apparently doesn't like anyone. According to herself, she has has no time for love. Tch... I swear her heart could be made of stone," her speech caused whines, complaints, and retorts as she exposed the other girls without warning.
Lucy knew the older take-over mage was relentless with things like this and would not accept an answer she wasn't satisfied with. She thought hard about how to escape the situation she was in now, even if she had to face some consequence later. Mira said that Erza had a heart of stone, but she recalled the memory of the blue-haired man. She was seriously contemplating if she'd rather be tortured by Mira or punished by Erza, thank the gods she was saved.
"Mira, leave Lucy alone..." the celestial mage felt a little guilty that she considered trying to expose her teammate, "It's so obvious. She and Natsu had something special."
Nevermind.
The news certainly entertained the group of girls, and their target's blush was rivalling Erza's hair.
"I thought Titania didn't participate in our conversations," and Lucy cursed at her luck them at the one time Erza pitches in, it put her in a less than ideal situation.
"Well, by the end of the night you guys would've figured that out. I didn't see why you guys should waste your time getting information that should be common knowledge," the red head said in a matter-of-fact tone.
Mira squealed as she have repeatedly thanked the girl, saying something about how she's taking back a statement in which she titled Erza as boring.
Evergreen then jabbed, "Mira, wouldn't you rather have Erza tell you about her own affairs instead of someone else's," trying to switch up where Mira's favouritism was headed.
Lucy thought this was the chance she needed to shift the excitement around herself, and back to her teammate that betrayed her. This was a situation that called for drastic measures, she thought it would be okay to side with Evergreen for once.
"Yeah, unless Erza already told you about Jellal?" she tried playing off innocently. Erza shot her a glare, she had not bought the act, Lucy was now fearing for her life.
The room fell into instant shock, before returning to its regular chaos mess.
"HA! I KNEW IT!"
"As in Jellal Fernandez, the ex-council member now turned criminal?!
"What? How? When? C'mon, Erza, tell us!"
"Juvia didn't know Erza-san liked bad boys"
"THE TITANIA BEING INVOLVED IN SOMETHING SO SCANDALOUS? A QUEEN WOULD NEVER INVOLVE HERSELF WITH SOMETHING LIKE THAT!"
"Damn. If I remember clearly, he was quite the bachelor. I would've tapped that."
Erza's face was red. Lucy couldn't tell if it was from anger or embarrassment, maybe both. Yet Erza made no remark to her, and she hadn't drawn out a sword. Lucy was sweaty profusely.
"That's enough. I don't need any rumours going around. All you need to know is that he was a childhood friend, and he went mad. I thought he died, so I grieved. Yet, he turned up soon after, but was arrested. I won't ever see him again, so don't get to excited," she calmly lectured.
Lucy's heart fell, her plan had backfired, and Erza would give her hell. Mira, visibly disappointed that she hadn't actually made progress with Erza, turned to Lucy with newfound determination.
"Since that was a total bust, why don't you entertain me instead," she gave the blonde a devilish look. Lucy gulped, the matchmaker inside her friend had come out and was after her.
She was too stunned and nervous to give Mira a verbal response, and she avoided the glances her other girls gave her sympathetically. That new the routine well now, unfortunately it was from experience.
"Well, ummm let's not get carried away, girls. Natsu and I are just friends," she crossed her fingers, praying to the Lady of Luck.
A playful look crossed the Titania's face, "There's no need to lie, Lucy. We're all friend's here, right? Since you don't want to share, I'll tell them for you. After all, you don't have a problem with us sharing secret."
Revenge. Titania was out for revenge. Lucy would have rather been attacked by swords, but Titania was cruel when she wanted to be. And so, Erza Scarlet exposed every little moment that happened between the couple in question on there missions.
The other girls hung on her every word, listening intently with curious eyes. Mira hadn't said a word since Erza's stories unlike the other girls who squealed and have her pointed looks. Mira Jane Strauss was scheming, Lucy was petrified. She tried denying her friend's accusations, saying that it wasn't like that and labeling them as misunderstandings. Her efforts were hopeless. Levy gave Lucy a pat on the shoulder, she assured her that when it came to crushes and such, club members were sworn to secrecy to not let the information slip.
"C'mon, Lucy, give up. You've been defeated. I was only returning the favour." Erza had stated, and the blonde mage made no argument.
And so, the rest of the night was spent plotting on how the girls could help Natsu and Lucy become a couple, Lucy kept denying till the very end. It was going to be a long night, and Mira was still on Plan K for her A to Z files of Nalu; that's was now their 'ship' name. This was going to be a long night.
Lucy barely looked up from table, she rested her head on, the night before left her sleepless. The girls had pulled an all-nighter, the sun had risen and Erza reminded the girls that it was time to get up. So Lucy dragged all her stuff home, half asleep, before forcing herself to stay awake; Team Natsu was supposed to be having team a performance debrief, and as per usual, the salmon-haired boy and his cat were late.
So that left Erza, Gray, and herself waiting (It was deemed that Wendy and Carla hadn't need to participate in their meetings since they usually discussed the problems the older members caused. Since Wendy wasn't part of that problem, Erza hadn't want to bore the girl with solutions that didn't do the young dragon slayer any good, so she was always excused). Erza shoved a piece of her strawberry cheesecake into her mouth, completely unaffected by her lack of sleep. Lucy wondered how that woman did that, she was close to passing out. Where was that stupid fire mage?
"Long night?" a shirtless Gray casually inquired about her state. She managed to grumble a yeah before she groaned out, her head was killing her.
"Lucy had her first sleepover at Fairy Hills," the other girl mentioned.
"Oh. Ooooooooh," Gray raised his brows in realization.
The way he said it caught Lucy's attention, as she looked up — chin still on the table, the ice-mage say across from her.
"You know?" she was curious, obviously he had some idea to why she was half dead.
"Cana might have let it slip once or twice," he admitted. "So what was it about this time?"
"Natsu and Lucy," Erza stated.
"Hey! I thought we weren't allowed to discuss what happened," a baffled Lucy countered.
"No, members aren't allowed to expose anyone's crushes. I have full right to tell Gray about Mira's plans for you two."
"Isn't that the same thing?!"
"So you admit that Natsu is your crush?" the scarlet-haired mage asked coyly.
"N-no! That's not what a meant!" she cried.
"Jeez, Lucy, you don't gotta be so loud this early" Gray completely ignoring her distress.
"Relax. It's only Gray. If he wanted to expose you and Natsu, he would've done it a long time ago," Erza assured her, but it did not make her feel any better.
"Huh?"
"Gray claims that every time we go on missions, you two seem to run off. Honestly, I agree that whenever you run off, we have to change our plans. I don't think it's fair for us to suddenly adjust everything because you two messed up our strategy," Erza's voice was firm and stern.
"Hey, it's not my fault. Natsu just drags me off without my permission, too," Lucy shot you defensively.
"So you just let him? I'm very disappointed in you, Lucy. You should be able to hold your own," she said dissatisfied with her excuse.
"But—"
"No buts. That's what our debrief will be about. You two cannot handle following the team attack plans, your team activities will be suspended. It will be suspended until you've learned to cooperate with the team. Also, as requested by Gray, he wishes that you guys 'control' your interactions as every time he sees you guys he gags."
Lucy went quiet. She hoped that the dragon slayer would stall his arrival, wishing he wouldn't show up, but he did. Too soon after hearing of what was decided.
Natsu slammed his hands down on the table, startling the rest of the guild.
"That's not fair!" he roared at the red-head.
Erza sat unfazed, "I've already made the decision. Master arranged you to practice your skills with other teams. The teams will give me a mandatory report on how you work with them. Until your return with out team, A-class missions will be off limits. I don't want to have you on a mission with the high-risk of destruction. I hope you will gain something from this."
Natsu stormed out of the guild, Happy trying to catch up with him. Lucy went back home to rest, she couldn't believe nor want to believe that they had basically been kicked out of the guild. It was temporary, but she had a dreadful feeling that they couldn't smoothly win over the other team's favours.
Author's Note: This fanfic will have a variety of ships. This takes place before Tenrou, but after Edolas, but things that happens in series isn't relevant except for the characters. I'll try to update as soon as possible.