CHAPTER 7 – REVELATIONS

A/N: Hello everyone, thank you for reading my story. I was just able to continue this from a very long time for some reasons. When I was writing it before, my laptop was lost and so along with my drafts so I was very disappointed. Second I lost interest in Fairy Tail as the final season was not yet up at that time. But don't you know that I rewatched it starting from the beginning before watching the final season so I become hooked again.

And now I have a small problem, as my story is progressing, I initially intended for Lucy to end up with someone (will not tell you 😝) because I really like him with her. But since I've rewatched the whole seasons, I am having a slight change of heart now. Before I don't really like their pairing but now I become a fan too. I love all of them though. So I am still undecided right now if I am going for the initial plan or change gear. But definitely she will end up with someone. Maybe I'll end it with Happy or Lily hahaha just kidding.

By the way, I also grimaced at the way I write. From the sentence construction onto how I put excessive and unnecessary words/phrases/details in my story. But I want to improve myself so just bear with me at the moment. Just to remind you English is not my first language so sorry for grammar mistakes.

Okay enough blabbering.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.

...

A moment later, he can feel her body stops shaking and her breathing becomes even. "Why don't you tell him?" he knows that the blonde is very close with Natsu and he just witnessed earlier how deep their bond is. Though the boy is right in every way, he is also aware why the girl's mouth is completely shut. The experience might be traumatic and shameful for her to talk about. He promised himself before to help the girl. But how? He's hoping to talk to the girl soon to get some lead once the issue died down a bit

Her eyes grow wide as she looks him in his eyes. 'Did he know?' But she soon realized that he was just referring to her current predicament. She also notices the position they were in so she moved away from his body, a bit embarrassed.

"Too many dragon slayers know my situation already. Do you know that saying – two is company, three is a crowd – ?" As she answered his question, trying for some humor to lighten the mood.

"Yeah, I've heard of it before. Four is too many and five is not allowed," as he continued reciting it for her.

"That's right, initially I only have company, but now I have my crowd. Don't want to involve more or the next thing I know we will be having our own parade," she stated. She grimaced at the thought of parading her situation to everyone.

What she's referring to are Laxus and Gajeel, initially only they knew but then Cobra came into picture. So many people are getting involved with her and that makes her anxious. She had just decided moments ago that no one will know of her pain especially, Natsu. He is the last person that she wanted to get involved with, though he has been persistent in finding out what's happening to her and in 'helping' her.

He likes talking to the girl as she has depth in her. Before, he thinks of her as a typical blonde chick in the guild. She is not dumb, he knows of it since she has proven herself a couple of times, but just 'typical', 'ordinary'. And boy, he is wrong in his assumption. How he wished that he was able to get to know the girl more before everything of this happened to her.

Laxus eyebrow rose. "Who is the third one?"

"Well it's Cobra. If you are not aware, he can hear the thoughts of everyone around him so I was also fallen victim," she said adding, "Beware of him, he is dangerous," she said with a playful smile. Her mood is a bit lighter now.

'So Cobra of the Crime Sorceire? How much did he know then?' he said thinking with a goal in his mind.

His thought was interrupted when the blonde girl speaks again. "Thank you Laxus and sorry again for involving you on this. Don't worry I will try to stay out of trouble from now on," she can't help but think that she has been bothering the older mage so much, lately. "You may go ahead now. I don't think I can go out yet looking like this," she knows her face and nose are all red, and her eyes are too puffy. She will just try to sneak out once she looks presentable and not too many people are hanging around in the guild anymore.

"Silly girl. Do you think I will leave you right here? Come," he extended his arm, offering his hand to her. She looks at his hand then to his face. His face looks inviting and solemn and so she feels a warm feeling in her chest just by looking at him. She was entranced so she took his hand.

Without warning, he enveloped both of them in his electric and zapped them away from the library and into her house.

Her experience was like falling into an endless pit and feeling like electricity is crawling in her body. It tickles. When they landed, she gasped as her legs turned into jelly, gave way, and she tumbled down. But before it happened, Laxus caught her by the waist and held her firmly in his arms. They stared at each other, longer than necessary.

"You're cute," Laxus said casually at her, breaking the silence. Lucy's face turned red, "W-what are you saying all of a sudden?" she stammered as she blushed profusely. Her heart drummed in her chest.

"With your puffy eyes," he said smiling, his eyes are laughing at the same time; he is obviously teasing her. He let go of her waist and gently steadied her in place.

"Don't just say that out of the blue," she said pouting cutely.

"You also look cute when you blush and pout," he further teased her.

"Baka! Get out of here now!" she said shouting, totally embarrassed now. She was agitated. She turned her back from Laxus as she cupped her cheeks and will herself to relax.

He was laughing heartily as he walked to her door, both hands on his pocket. "That is the Lucy that I want to see, full of spirit. Good night and see you tomorrow," he said before closing her door.

She glanced at him still looking red yet she did not utter any words. 'Thank you Laxus,' she just said in her mind. Never in a thousand years had she imagined that speaking to him will be that easy.

…..

"Natsu! Natsu! Wake up Natsu," Happy shakes his partner awake. He has woken up at the feeling of his partner's grumbling stomach as he lies on top of it. Natsu is moaning as he was tossing and trashing in their hammock while speaking incoherently in his sleep. "Natsu," once again he shakes his partner.

Natsu wakes up at the sight of Happy hovering above him, concern is in his eyes. "Are you having a nightmare Natsu?"

He nodded at his exceed. "It's nothing buddy. Let's go back to sleep," he said as he close his eyes once again. Happy instead of going back on his partner's stomach just takes his place beside him.

But he did not go back to sleep. Same as the previous nights, that dreadful feeling is back again and now it was back up with a nightmare. He opened his eyes and stared into nothingness. He can only remember snippets in his dream and all else are just blank or something he cannot remember.

In his dream, he recognized Bacchus and him drinking in the pub. There was a waiter. There were two women in the scene. He was kissing and touching someone, probably one of the women. Then the scene shifted entirely with him running endlessly. He can see a cherry blossom tree. There was an unconscious girl lying on the ground. He was holding his scarf on his hands. There are fallen trees all around him and some of the trees were half burned. Nothing makes sense on that dream.

Only Bacchus' face was clear on the picture though and he cannot make out the faces of the others. He cannot understand his dream except for the Bacchus part. Just the other night, he was on his way home when he came across Bacchus in town and the guy just dragged him forcefully into some pub in the outskirt of Magnolia that night. They were drinking and more alcohol is coming on their table. He guessed he was really drunk as he cannot figured out what happened next. All are just blurry images then the next thing he knew he woke up in his hammock. Then the same disturbing feeling has been haunting his nights since then.

He sat up instantly, waking up Happy. "Happy, wake up. Let's go to Lucy." Upon mentioning her name he remembered that Lucy is actually avoiding him. He forgot about it, it's like his body's automatic response whenever he cannot sleep in their own house, is to sneak in their partner's bed.

Happy, half awake, rubbed his eyes. "Forget about it buddy," Natsu muttered and so he lay down again.

Happy, fully awake now, stared at his partner. His partner is just lying down there, his eyes are open and he is just staring at their ceiling like he is thinking about something serious. He feels like something is bothering him since it is not in his character to really think. But he did not bother asking him as the boy was lost in his thoughts. Natsu has been acting weird since the night he saw him rampaging in the forest.

…..

"Hey Bacchus darling, you're here again. Where is that Salamander boy you were with before?" said a woman who approached Bacchus at his table.

"Natsu?" His eyebrow rose at the woman in front of him. Recognition dawned on him. She was one of the two women they're with, that was fawning over Natsu. He thinks her name is Rica or something.

"Yes I think that's his name. Such a waste, that boy. I am little worried about him though," she said.

"Why?" he asked not really interested but was just being polite with the woman who initiated talking to him. He assessed the woman which appears to be a bit older than him, she looks sexy and ravishing but she is not really his type. Something's telling him that he is also not right up in her alley. "Kampai!" he said lifting his cup up and gulped down his beer, bottoms up.

"I may have over drugged him," she has a slip of the tongue. She maybe too drunk already as she is being really talkative right now. But she's actually worried with that boy. She didn't know that the great Salamander of Fairy Tail was actually quite dense. She has been giving him signals all night long but to no avail. The four of them already moved into an exclusive room in the pub. And her friend was already getting hot with Bacchus just beside them, and so, when the boy excused himself to go to the bathroom; she slipped the drug into his drinks. When he returned, she proposed a toast and they both emptied their drinks in one down. She knew her drug was proven and tested to take effect immediately. She purposely leaned on him making sure her breasts are touching his arm, she did not get any response though. He just looked at her like he was confused on why she was rubbing herself on to him. And she wondered why the drug was not affecting him. He has proven to be a big challenge for her. So she buzzed for the waiter, ordering another set of drinks for both of them and again she discreetly poured a slightly higher dosage than the first in his drinks. On to second attempt, and still she's not getting any response. She's getting frustrated. On to their third drinks, he was about to decline as both Bacchus and her friend have run off somewhere else leaving them behind but cajoled him saying that it would be their last drinks. She was just faking on drinking her beer to avoid getting drunk too much. But the boy beside her already seems to be a bit intoxicated with all the drinks she was giving him so slipping the drug was easier now. She emptied the whole vial and so finally the drug worked on him.

"I am a bit worried though because I have given him a whole vial without him knowing which is equivalent to 10 usages," she added. "He may be dead by now," now she realized she should not be telling all these stuffs to the man or else she will get in trouble. But she was too drunk to care.

"You did what?! Why would you do that?" Bacchus exclaimed.

"I just wanted to have my way on that cute, innocent, little boy. But he runs off while we are getting hot and sexy." She said with great disappointment and while pouting. Well, she preys on inexperienced young men and she knew one almost instantly when she sees one. Nothing is as exciting as introducing them into the world of pleasure. Those little boys are at her mercy. Their untried body and their genuine responses are the best. She is getting hot now while thinking about it. She looked at the man in front her and disgust is in her face. 'No, he wouldn't do.'

Mission accomplished.

He moved as if to hug the woman but placed a restraining cuff on her wrists.

"What the heck?" she shouted at him but the man was already dragging her away.

He accepted a mission on this town to capture a criminal who preys on young men by drugging the victims. The motive is unclear though. His client, which is the owner of the pub, is suspecting that one of his customers is behind all that. His pub was quite popular even for the people outside the town. But just recently, the owner has been receiving a lot of complaints regarding young men being drugged after going to the pub. Then a rumor quickly spread that the establishment was just a decoy but is originally a drug cartel. So in order to stop further damage on the establishment, the owner sought help from his friend, Goldmine, who is a master of a guild mage, Quatro Cerberus.

That's how he has gotten this mission. He did not expect that the criminal would willingly give herself away to him though.

Well, it's time to visit Fairy Tail to check if Natsu is still alive and kicking. He feels a little guilty that he dragged and just left the guy at that time. It was not in his intention to involve the guy in his mission and it did not cross his mind that the guy will fall victim with the criminal.

…..

Lucy is sitting on her bed, curled up into a ball crying. She has woken up by her nightmare. The dream is reliving every single thing that had happened to her that night. It looks so vivid and real. She was so frightened because it feels like it was happening all over again.

"Lucy, are you okay?" Happy was coming through her window when he saw the girl is crying in her bed. He flew towards her, on top of her knees.

She lifted her face and saw Happy looking worriedly at her. "Happy," she uttered his name. "Natsu he–," she stopped and just hugged him while she cried. She wanted some magic that will make her forget everything and that will make her tears stop from falling. She just wanted to move on from all of these. "Kami-sama, please help me," she muttered under her breath.

"Don't cry Lucy, you are making me cry too," but he was already in tears and snot was running down his nose. "What about Natsu?"

She did not answer and she just kept on crying so he cried with her, hers were infectious. He doesn't even understand what's happening but when the girl cries he almost instantly cries too.

He doesn't know what is happening to both of his partner as both are acting weird tonight.

He flew here just when Natsu fell asleep again. He wanted to talk to Lucy on how was Natsu acting strange especially tonight and the nights prior but this is the scene that he came into. Also, he just remembered the thing that he has been meaning to tell Lucy earlier in the guild, when he saw the pair of pink sandals at their home. He knows that it was Lucy's since he had seen her with it a couple of times. So he brought the sandals with him.

Lucy stopped crying and is now sleeping in her bed as he tucked her in.

He stared at her sandals closely as he pondered.

Lucy was crying tonight. Natsu was having a nightmare. Natsu was acting weird tonight. Natsu is running through the forest and rampaging two nights ago. Lucy left her sandals in the park two nights ago. He has a feeling that there's more to it.

Is there a connection why both of them are acting so weird tonight?

But even how deeply he thinks about it, the puzzle won't fit together. He will just have to talk to both of them tomorrow.

Two nights ago, when he was on his way home after spending time with Wendy and Carla, he saw two figures just near the cherry blossom tree, far away from where he stands. He recognized it was Natsu but something seems to be off with him as he seems to be disconcerted. He cannot clearly see the other figure; it seems to be lying onn the ground, non-moving. Then Natsu took off, running like a madman through the forest. He can't decide if he was going to approach the other figure or follow his partner. But he did the latter, thinking he will just go back later and check on his partner first.

In the forest, Natsu is rampaging like crazy, taking down every tree just like those poor trees did him wrong. He was afraid to approach him as he seemed to be not in his normal self. So he just watched him at a distance. He cannot leave him alone for the fear that something might happen to him. He felt worried since he's been rampaging for quite a while now and he was not showing any sign of stopping. Finally, when Natsu seemed to be finally satisfied, he ran again but this time he was headed to their home. Once inside, he saw his partner slumped down to their hammock and fell asleep instantly out of exhaustion.

And that's when he remembered the other figure, what if something happened on it? Or worst, what if Natsu did something on it while he was not on his proper mind? So he decided to go back to where he last remembered them, but all he saw was a pair of pink sandals which he instantly recognized that belongs to Lucy. He flew high above the ground to look for her but he cannot see her anywhere. Thinking that she already went home, he flew back to their house.

He turned to look at the now peaceful girl and lifted his paw on her tear-stained face wiping the remnants off her face. He decided not to go back to their house and so he snuggled near Lucy's chest.

…..