PART I – Resolution

Chapter VI – The deepest abyss

"When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares."
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Out of Solitude: Three Meditations on the Christian Life

"Where can I find Levy McGarden?"

Lucy slammed her hands on the supervisor's counter and the old woman that was sitting in the office blenched at the loud noise.

"You..." she stuttered, trying to regain her composure, "you're not allowed in this..."

"I don't have time for this," Lucy interrupted. "The colonel Strauss sent me here, it's an order from her, take me to Levy McGarden this instant!"

The old supervisor visibly wasn't used to be addressed to in such a rude way, if the outraged look she sent Lucy was anything to go by, but she still got up from her seat and motioned for Lucy to follow her. She walked pretty fast for an old lady and Lucy was ashamed to admit that she had to trot behind her to keep up with her. The corridors of the building were yellow from the floor to the ceiling and seemed to stretch to infinity as they hurried along them. They climbed up two staircases, took at least eight turns that all opened on new long corridors. Finally, they came to stop in front of an old-looking red door and the old supervisor knocked so hard that Lucy was afraid she would hurt her hand. A woman with long black hair opened the door, she looked rather young and very confused.

"Miss Babasaama?" the young teacher asked. "Do you need something?"

Lucy peeked inside and saw that all the girls had their heads turned toward the door. Some of them were actually openly flirting with her, sending teasing smiles or winking at her. The brown haired girl that had all the guys go crazy on the day of the visit of the Octagon was staring at her too, with a smug, conspiratorial smile, as if she knew something about Lucy that Lucy herself didn't know. Lucy averted her eyes and took two steps back to be hidden by the wall.

"Colonel Strauss is asking for Levy McGarden," the old supervisor whispered, "this recruit is here to escort her."

She pointed an accusatory finger at Lucy and the teacher only noticed her then. She frowned and looked her up and down. When she was done observing the blonde recruit, the teacher lifted her eyes back to her face and Lucy gulped. "Calm down, Lucy," she mentally ordered herself, "don't let her gaze unsettle you. It's impossible to figure you out with just a visual examination." The recruit nodded politely, her back straight, eyes showing no emotion, hands behind her back. The teacher barely nodded.

"Fine," she said. "Levy, the colonel Strauss is asking for you. Leave your things here, your roommate will take care of them for you."

Lucy couldn't see what was happening inside the classroom anymore, but she heard the rattle of a chair being pulled back and the quiet, quick steps of someone trotting toward the door. A small girl with blue hair suddenly appeared in her field of vision. She was thin, had brown eyes, a yellow bandana in her blue hair – which was forbidden by the Academy's rules – and looked like a child lost in the middle of a battlefield. Lucy didn't understand what was so special about her. She looked like a baby squirrel. But, at the moment, she was the person her friend needed the most and she was taking her to him right away.

"Thanks," Lucy nodded to the old lady and the teacher, "let's go."

She grabbed the small girl's wrist and pulled her along. Levy didn't resist at all, but she had this worried frown on her childish face as she was being dragged along the corridors at a pace that was too fast for her. Lucy got annoyed, she lacked tolerance when it came to slow people.

"What's happening?" the blue haired student asked. "Where are we going?"

Lucy didn't look at her as she was progressing as fast as she could toward the exit, but she did answer her honestly.

"We're going to the headmaster's office," she explained. "One of the teachers got crazy and locked a recruit inside a coffin. I don't really understand why, but the colonel Strauss ordered me to come to get you."

Suddenly, the weak, small girl that looked like a baby squirrel just a second before, stopped dead in her tracks and pulled on Lucy's hand so hard the blonde almost tripped. She stared at the smaller girl with very confused eyes as tiny hands grabbed the collar of her uniform.

"Who was the recruit?" she asked with a grave voice.

"Wha..."

"The recruit that was locked inside the coffin!" Levy screamed, obviously panicked. "Who was it!?"

Lucy didn't try to shake her hands off, too confused to react.

"Gajeel," she said. "Gajeel Redfox."

If Levy had looked desperate and panicked before hearing his name, now, she looked like she had just been struck by thunder. She gritted her teeth and Lucy felt her fists clench around her shirt. She was furious.

"Let's go!"

And just like that, Lucy suddenly became the one being dragged toward the exit.

oOo

The doors of the headmaster's office burst open as a tiny silhouette ran inside, looking frantic.

"Gajeel!" she screamed.

All heads turned toward her and Lucy, who timidly stood behind the now broken doors, not really knowing what she was supposed to do now that she was here. Gajeel's face was really worth the embarrassment, though. It was a mix of surprise, anger, shame, happiness, relief, all of them successively passing through the hard lines of his face as if he himself didn't know how he wanted to feel. It was funny, Lucy would tease him about this later.

"Shrimp..." he grimaced, "what the fuck are you doing here?"

"Language, Gajeel."

It was Mira, she tried to look mad at him for using such foul words, but the bright smile that had appeared on her face when she saw Levy enter the office like a fury would not bulge.

"Levy, we're talking with the general about the incident at the moment," the colonel explained, "but maybe you'd like to wait for us outside? It won't last much longer."

Levy hesitated, she glanced at Gajeel and found him turning his eyes away from her, fidgeting in his seat. She blushed when she realized that she probably looked like a hysterical lover and nodded, her eyes dropping to the floor.

"Yes," she breathed, "I'm very sorry for interrupting you..."

"Don't be," Mira smiled kindly.

Both girls walked out of the office and tried to close the doors, but they refused to close properly. Levy let herself fall to the floor and sat there with her arms around her knees, sighing and trying to calm her rapid breathing. She must have been really worried. Lucy hesitated. Maybe she should just keep quiet and leave to go find her friends in the dorms. It was none of her business after all... But it was just so tempting! She came to sit by Levy and lightly patted the nurse-in-training's shoulder.

"Don't worry," she said, "he's with our instructors now, he'll be fine."

Levy snickered, but didn't lift her eyes to answer.

"Because he wasn't with an instructor when he was locked inside that coffin?" she retorted. "Wasn't it actually an instructor that locked him in there?"

Lucy shrugged, she couldn't argue with her on that point.

"Well," she still protested, "Ivan's a complete asshole and the worst instructor of the Academy. I don't think he even deserves to work here."

Levy's face slightly turned and she glanced at Lucy, still holding her knees tightly. The small girl sniffed and nodded.

"I'm sorry for talking to you like that," she apologized, "you didn't deserve it at all..."

Lucy shrugged again. That's how good at communicating she was.

"Don't sweat it," she said, "I understand."

A short moment of silence followed her declaration before a nervous laugh escaped her lips.

"Actually," she said, "I don't really understand. I get that people locked inside coffins is scary and can make you angry for these people's sake, but you look very concerned about Gajeel. It almost looks like you guys are childhood friends, or lovers."

Levy blushed fifty shades of red and hid her eyes in her arms. Lucy stared, waited, smirked.

"No way," she nearly laughed, "you two are an item! Since when? How the hell did you guys do?"

This time, Levy stopped hiding behind her knees and sat cross-legged, giggling.

"You sound like a girl, you know," she pointed out.

Lucy's smirk widened.

"You think making fun of me will make me drop the subject? Forget it. Talk."

Levy laughed for real at that and Lucy was surprised by how much she liked the sound of it. Levy had a clear, light laugh, the kind of laugh that makes you think of children playing around and chasing each other across a large field of daisies. Why in the world was she working in the army?

"It happened a bit after the incident with the second years, the hazing," she started. "Some of the students of the medical unit were selected to work with the professionals of the Academy and I was among them. I met Gajeel the day he was dragged to the medical unit by my supervisor, Erza Scarlet. She wanted him to talk about the incident because she was sure that he was hiding his trauma or something. No one told her he wasn't even there when it happened and she refused to believe Gajeel when he tried to explain it to her... He sat in his chair for an hour and pouted the whole time."

Lucy laughed genuinely, it was so like him to act like a spoiled brat at such a moment. And Levy had this look when talking about him, like he was the cutest thing she had ever seen. Maybe she needed better glasses...

"Hey," a rough voice interfered, "don't say useless things to him. Or to anybody else, for that matter..."

Lucy and Levy both lifted their heads to see Gajeel standing in the doorway, looking down at them. They stood up, the meeting with the general was over and the officers were now leaving the room. Natsu walked out right after Mira and his eyes immediately found Lucy's. She turned away and nodded to Levy.

"I have to go now," she said, "but it was a pleasure meeting you. I hope we'll get to talk more in the future."

"As if I'll let you spend time alone with her," Gajeel retorted.

Lucy winked and walked away, superbly ignoring her commander and stopping in front of Mira instead.

"Do you have a minute?" she asked.

"Sure," the colonel cheered.

They walked for a moment and Mira noticed that her younger friend was trying to get as far from the other officers as possible, but it was funny so she didn't say anything and let the recruit guide her. Finally, Lucy stopped at a corner and checked their surroundings to make sure that nobody was listening to them.

"What happened with Ivan?" she asked. "What did you talk about in this office?"

Mira's sweet smile was replaced by an arched eyebrow and a smirk.

"Why didn't you ask Natsu? He was staring at you as if begging for your attention, that was so sad and yet so cute!"

Lucy blushed and averted her eyes.

"Don't say stupid things," she retorted, "he thinks I'm a man and he told me that he has no interest in me."

This successfully spiked Mira's interest if the sparkling in her eyes and her sudden bright smile were anything to go by.

"He said that? Would it happen to have something to do with the definitely very recent bite mark on his shoulder?"

Lucy froze, hesitated, blushed even more.

"How... how would I know," she stuttered, "and that's not the point! Stop it, Mira, you're just messing with me! Natsu's my commander and I'm a man in his eyes. Even if I had an interest in him, which I don't, there's no way he'd look at me in that way."

"Oh, you never know," Mira purred. "I caught him gazing at you once or twice lately, while he thought no one was looking..."

"Mira," Lucy interrupted her, more sternly, "I'll be killed the moment they find out who I am."

This successfully wiped the smile off Mira's face. She sighed, took Lucy's hands in hers without even making sure that still were alone in the corridor.

"Lucy," her voice was solemn as she stared into her eyes, "you might not understand this just yet, but you're not the only one that's here even though it was supposed to be impossible. Natsu has a past too, and a dark one at that. Believe me, if there's someone in this academy that has the guts to stand for a wanted criminal, it's him."

Lucy frowned and her hands tightened around Mira's. What had Natsu done that was so terrible? And why did Mira know about that? And him having a dark, mysterious past had nothing to do with her, why in the world did she think that he would betray his country to protect her when he wasn't able to be nice to her for more than a few hours? So many questions... The young recruit sighed and massaged her neck.

"Just don't tell him anything about me, alright? I still don't trust him. Now, about Ivan, what have you guys decided?"

oOo

"And as such," Makarov concluded, "the lieutenant-colonel Ivan Dreyar will leave the Academy next Monday to join the fighting corps in the south."

Lucy gulped, Mira wasn't kidding when she said that Ivan would suffer a real punishment this time. He would have gotten a mere warning had this been his first transgression, though that might be inaccurate in this case. Ivan had gone too far this time, Lucy wouldn't even need to get involved to make him pay for this. Too bad, she already had a few ideas she would have liked to try. Agitated whispers traveled through the tables of the refectory as everyone was trying to get a glimpse of the grim officer. After all those weeks – years for some of them – of humiliation, cruel treatment, injustice, their officer was the one in a position of weakness. They wanted to see fear in his eyes, fear or anger, disappointment or despair.

"Good riddance," someone said out loud.

Lucy never knew who said that, nobody turned him in. Makarov ignored this declaration and went on, even though Ivan's eyes were now throwing daggers at the crowd.

"Nothing will change for you," he assured, "you will continue your lessons with another teacher that will take over from the point you reached with mister Dreyar."

Mister, Lucy mentally noted, not lieutenant-colonel. When Makarov and his men were done, they saluted and left the recruits to their meals. A minute after they had left the refectory, while Lucy was teasing Loke for being a wimp, the doors opened again and a heavy silence fell upon the room. Natsu had just come in with Gajeel right behind him. Everyone was staring at him and Lucy was considering waving at him to dissipate the tension, but then something really surprising happened. Someone clapped. Lucy heard soft laughters, more applause, and then everyone in the refectory, second years and freshmen all the same, stood up from their seats and clapped, whistled, shouted and cheered loudly. Gajeel stared dumbfounded at the crowd of hysterical recruits that were all trying to shake his hand, pat his back or even hug him. Natsu smirked and ruffled the punk's hair before leaving him alone to deal with his new fan club. He avoided the crowd as much as he could and searched the room with his eyes, but all the tables were occupied. All but Lucy's, there was a free seat there. Gray and Loke were both staring at her, they knew that something had happened in the barrack with Natsu, but Lucy wouldn't tell them a thing about it and they didn't want to pressure her into telling them. So they just stared in silence to let her make her decision, they would respect it. She sighed and put two fingers in her mouth to whistle. It came out loud, but she was still worried that he wouldn't hear her because of all the noise in the refectory. She worried for nothing, though, as he immediately turned his head toward her and saw her pointing at the free seat. He smirked. It took him less than ten seconds to make his way to the table and set his plate down.

"Did you just whistle for me like you would a dog?" he asked.

She shrugged.

"You still came."

oOo

"Triple of Queens," Loke cheered, "off with the shirt!"

Lucy snickered and laid her own cards down. Triple of Kings.

"You're kidding me..." her friend trailed off. "You swore you wouldn't cheat!"

Lucy laughed as she lifted both hands in the air.

"I didn't," she assured, "you're just that bad a player."

Loke pouted and smirked when his eyes found Lucy's again.

"Oh well," he shrugged, "I only have one thing left to take off."

Gray smirked and brushed his knees before standing back up.

"I don't want to see you with no underwear on," he smiled, "and it's almost curfew."

"True," Lucy agreed, "let's all keep our pants on and go to sleep."

For some strange reason, Loke seemed to be disappointed with their decision, but – thank the Lord – still kept his underpants on. Lucy decided that she needed a shower more than Loke so she had one right before curfew, her roommate would have to wait until the following morning. He was already half-asleep when she came out with her protective bandage over her chest and hidden under her pajama shirt.

"Good night," she told him while collapsing in her own bed.

He hummed in response and she was just about to fall asleep for real when she heard him talk.

"I heard the commander is going to a huge party this weekend," he giggled, "I can't imagine him having fun with other people like a normal human being."

Lucy did try to imagine him getting drunk, wearing tight black jeans and dancing with friends, but it just looked ridiculous in her mind so she stopped.

"What are you going to do this weekend?" Loke asked.

His voice sounded strange, like he was already in that alternative state between sleep and consciousness. Lucy shrugged in her bed, her mind not registering the thought that he couldn't see her in the dark.

"I'm going out with friends," she answered, "in a bar or something calm like that. Nothing extraordinary."

He hummed again.

"You're lucky..."

His voice was weak. Why had he refused to take the test? Lucy stared at the blackness cloaking the ceiling and the rest of the small room, something weird had happened at some point of the day, but she couldn't understand what it was. Loke fell asleep quickly and so did she. Well, not that quickly, to be honest.

Lucy squatted down behind the wooden bars of the staircase railing, eyes wide open as she watched the scene unfolding below her with great interest. Her mother was only wearing her light pink, silky nightgown, her hair wasn't brushed either. Her father was still wearing a suit with all his medals catching the chandelier's light from their spot on his chest. He was drenched in water and Layla was trying to get him to sit down so she could wipe his hair with a towel. Then, he took her hands in his and brought them to his lips so he could kiss them with unusual delicacy. He told her something in a voice too low for Lucy to hear it. Layla froze and her eyes were suddenly filled with tears, grief written all over her face. Lucy wanted to cry too when she saw her mother look so sad. Layla wrapped her arms around Jude's neck and Lucy deduced that her father wasn't the one making her sad.

"She didn't survive?" Layla sobbed. "Are we sure it was really her?"

Jude nodded with a grave face, Lucy couldn't really tell if he was very angry or very sad. Probably both.

"I don't know why she went out," he deplored, "she knew that they were looking for her. It was too dangerous to go out alone at night and with that storm coming..."

"Oh, come on!" Layla roared. "She's been living in the mountains of the North since the day she was born, she was used to storms, there's no way she would have drowned during a hurricane because she wasn't stupid enough to wander around the beach at such a time!"

Jude put a finger in front of his mouth to shush her and Lucy could tell from the grimace on her mother's face that it took a lot of effort on her part to obey him.

"Lucy's sleeping upstairs...," Jude whispered.

That was when realization hit Lucy's mother and horror filled her eyes.

"Where are they?" Lucy's mother asked, her voice trembling.

Jude immediately understood what she meant. He caressed her cheek and kissed her forehead. That, too, was unusual for her father. He wasn't really the affectionate type.

"They're waiting in the car outside as we speak," he told her. "I guess you'd like to dry your tears before I invite them in."

Lucy could practically hear her mother's gasp.

"They're here, now!?" she exclaimed. "Don't worry about me, tell them to come in!"

Lucy's father smiled softly and kissed his wife's lips gently. Lucy grimaced, how disgusting. Jude then turned around and walked out of the mansion, closing the door behind him. A draught of cold air blew in through the door and made Lucy shiver. She was only wearing her light night gown and had forgotten her slippers in her bedroom. From her hiding spot up the stairs, she heard water flow from the tap in the kitchen and splashes, her mother was probably washing her face with cold water to look like she hadn't cried. It worked, as Lucy could see when her mother came back to stand in front of the large double doors. Said doors opened shortly after and Lucy watched as her father came back in, his hands on the shoulders of two boys. Even despite the distance, Lucy could see their eyes. The first boy, with silvery hair, looked like the only emotion he was able to feel, the only emotion he would ever be able to feel in the future, was anger. A deep, cold and eternal anger. The other boy had dark hair and his eyes told her a completely different story. They were lifeless, empty, glassy. The boy with silver hair looked kind of scary in Lucy's eyes, but what she saw in the other boy's eyes was much scarier. She saw nothing. He was so damaged, he wasn't with them anymore. In his eyes, she saw nothing.

"Where did she go, now?" Erza asked, exasperated.

Mira laughed softly as she put her last bag in the car boot. She had at least four or five full suitcases in there...

"She said something about saying goodbye to her friends," she answered. "I'm glad that she has people she likes here, it makes things a bit... easier."

Erza didn't say a thing back and stared at the main building, across the field. She, too, was glad that Lucy had found friends. The red haired doctor was even sure that, if Lucy wanted to, she could share her secret with her roommate, Loke. He seemed so attached to Lucy that she wouldn't be surprised if he decided to take her side against the army when the time came. And it will come. Mira glanced at her stern friend with a soft smile before something came to her mind.

"Erza," she called, "there's something I'd like to talk to you about before Lucy comes back."

Erza glanced at her friend and kept silent to allow her to go on.

"It's about Natsu," she explained, "he's been around Lucy a lot lately, even if he doesn't directly talk to her. And the other day, when Lucy had her problem, I found him in the corridor, leaning against a wall."

This successfully worried the usually imperturbable doctor, who suddenly blanched.

"What?"

Mira immediately shook her hands and head.

"Don't worry," she said, "he was standing too far to hear us. I'm only saying that he's been all around lately and he has this look in his eyes... I think he's starting to get really curious."

"Which is definitely a very bad thing," Erza agreed.

Mira frowned and tilted her head to the side.

"Is it really?" she asked. "I mean, it's Natsu, if we were to tell him about the whole truth, he'd surely take our side..."

"Mirajane," Erza abruptly called. Her eyes were ablaze. "If Lucy's plan is discovered and Natsu's name comes up during the investigation, what do you think will happen to him?"

The colonel massaged her neck and grimaced.

"I realize that, thank you very much," she countered. "I know that Natsu's most probably be living on borrowed time. But so is Lucy! Erza, if they were to unite, they might be able to save each other!"

Erza hesitated, she frowned, grimaced, stared at her crazy friend. Why was she saying this now? Why was she saying something that made her think that, maybe, there still was a faint ray of hope for them? She had come to accept that Natsu's case was hopeless, that was partly why she wanted to help Lucy so much, there was still hope for her! If Mira was wrong and this failed, they would all die, and so would their families, friends, lovers. This was the rational part of her mind speaking, but the truth, even if she couldn't bring herself to accept it just yet, was that she felt guilty. So guilty. She had given up on Natsu after everything he had been through. Even worse, now that there was a chance to save him, she was scared to put Lucy in danger while doing so. Wasn't she supposed to be the reckless, fearless former mercenary? Wasn't she supposed to be the one to come up with dangerous ideas that involved desperate fights? Wasn't she the very person that infiltrated a foreign military base and set fourty prisoners of war free? If she had refused to go, Jellal would still be there, his wrists and ankles restrained by heavy chains. Erza opened her mouth to answer, even though she wasn't really sure what she wanted to say. Would she tell Mira to give up? Would she promise to help her with her crazy plan? She opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted before she could do so by the sound of someone clearing their throat behind her. She turned around abruptly to find herself staring at Lucy's roommate.

"Loke," she greeted, nodding, "Luc's searching for you."

"He found me," he answered. "He said he'd miss me."

Erza tried her very best to keep calm. This was only Loke after all, he had repeatedly proven that he was a slow idiot. There was no need to worry.

"Did you need anything, Loke?"

Mira's smile was angelic and so was her voice. Someone who didn't know her wouldn't think that she was mentally freaking out. Loke smiled and both women were genuinely surprised to see so many emotions on his face. His smile was weak, almost sad.

"Actually," he admitted, "yes..."

oOo

Lucy jogged all the way back to the car, she couldn't believe that Loke had locked her up in the cupboard, that bastard! Gajeel had been the one to set her free, how humiliating do you think that was for her? He openly mocked her and Lucy told him to go cry in Levy's arm, which triggered a high-speed chase through the corridors. They ran by Gray on their way toward the exit and the latter smirked when he understood what was happening. He tripped Gajeel when he was close enough to do so. Gajeel then changed targets and ran after a laughing Gray. Anyway, this made her waste quite some time and she reached Erza's car panting and sweating.

"Sorry about this," she smiled, "I ran into troubl... wait, what happened?"

Mirajane's eyes were so red it looked like they had both gotten stung by a bee. Erza didn't look too cheerful either, which wasn't really unusual, but her jaw was contracted and she was shooting daggers at Mirajane, as if resenting her for openly showing her sadness.

"Care to explain?" Lucy insisted.

"We just saw a hunter in the field behind the Academy," Erza answered with a dry tone of voice. "He was chasing a fox, even though he had no right to, and we tried to stop him. But he still shot, there was nothing we could do for the fox. The hunter got away with it."

The ride to Erza's home seemed to last longer than what Lucy remembered, even though it had been quite some time since she'd last been to the redhead's house. Both Erza and Mira tried to talk about how good it would be to spend the whole weekend together, about the party they were taking Lucy to – even though the blonde had no desire to go – about Gajeel and Levy. Lucy didn't say anything about it, but she did notice that her friends still looked tense and were deliberately avoiding to talk about Loke.

"Why do you think did Loke forfeit during the test?" she tried asking.

Erza cleared her throat and struggled to find her words.

"I don't know," she pretended, "maybe he was scared Natsu would drop dozens of tarantulas on him..."

Mira turned in her seat to smirk at Lucy.

"Or bite him," she suggested.

Lucy blushed and averted her eyes.

"I already told you I don't know anything about it..."

Erza was visibly dying to turn around and interrogate her friend as well, but she managed to keep her eyes on the road despite the temptation.

"What do you mean bite," she asked, "did I miss something?"

Mira giggled and Lucy would be glad to see her smile again had they been talking about something other than the bite mark on Natsu's shoulder, mark that she had indeed been the one to leave. But it wasn't her fault, it was only self-defense.

"Don't listen to her," Lucy said, "she's just being delusional, as usual!"

Mira smirked even more and laughed darkly as her eyes left Lucy's to focus on the amused face of the driver.

"Natsu didn't have any mark when we started the tests," she explained, "but he had a bite mark at the junction of his neck and shoulder when he came out of the barrack."

Lucy saw Erza lift an eyebrow through the rear-view mirror and she knew that the redhead was smirking too even though she couldn't actually see her.

"I have nothing to do with it," she lied, "don't look at me like that."

"I heard something interesting from Laxus," Mira superbly ignored her, "it seems that Natsu looked a bit confused about something until a few days ago."

"And why should we care?" Lucy countered.

Mira's smile got brighter as she nodded at the blonde.

"I'm getting there," she went on. "You see, Natsu's room suffered water damage about two weeks ago and it took a full week to fix it. In the meantime, he slept in Laxus' room."

"I still don't see why this is so..."

"Quiet, little cloud," Mira interrupted her. "I told you I'm getting there. It was around the time when you started to see Dimaria and she got obsessed with you."

"Thanks for reminding me..."

"Lucy, dear," Mira smiled menacingly, "if you interrupt me one more time, I'll gag you. Anyway, Laxus would have to listen to Natsu every night as your beloved commander stomped around the room, cursing about crazy bitches and how 'he didn't care about him anayway'. I'm sure you can figure out on your own who this him might be."

"That proves nothing," Lucy retorted, "except that he's mad at me even when I'm not around."

Mira was about to scold the young blondie for lacking self-confidence and teach her everything she knew about male psychology, but, God bless her, Erza interrupted her.

"We're here," she declared, "but someone parked their car in front of my house again. We'll have to carry the bags a bit longer since I'll have to park further away."

"Why don't you just blast that annoying car?" Mira suggested.

In the end, they didn't blast anything and had to carry all the bags and suitcases to Erza's house, which pissed Mira off to no end.

"How dare they park in front of someone else's house without even asking for permission?" she grumbled. "Those people deserve to be abandoned in the heart of an endless desert."

"I want to be like Maggie Smith when I'm old," Lucy declared.

Erza stared strangely at her.

"Why?"

The blonde recruit shrugged as best as she could with her bags in her arms.

"I don't know," she answered, "she's cool."

"No," Erza went on, "I was asking you why are you saying that out of the blue?"

Lucy shrugged again.

The girls spent the two or three following hours folding their laundry, having showers, picking clothes for the party, doing their hair and putting make-up on. Actually, only Erza and Mira did all of that, Lucy was hoping that they would forget about her and leave without her. But they didn't... Seriously, she was tired, why couldn't the party be held on Saturday instead? Anyway, she became a powerless doll in the hands of the older women that spent quite some time to put her make-up on and – Lucy had to admit it – did a really good job with her hair. Even though it was so short, it still looked very sophisticated and feminine. As for the clothes, they chose a silky bright silver top that hung loosely in her back and short, tight, black shorts that enhanced the curve of her buttocks. Black high heeled sandals, shiny earrings and a silver bracelet completing her outfit.

"This doesn't suit me at all," Lucy protested. "I look ridiculous, look at me!"

"We are looking," Mira assured, "and I think it would be a good idea to let you stay at home. I mean, look at her, Erza, she'll attract too much attention, all the guys will fly to her like mosquitoes attracted by a light."

"Why do you want to attract guys," Erza retorted, "you'll make Laxus mad again."

Mira's smile didn't even falter at the implication.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Just because you act like I'm not here doesn't mean I'll stop protesting," Lucy argued. "I'm taking those things off so I can go and collapse on the couch, watching TV and eating chips."

"Hell no," Erza growled. "We put a lot of effort into this makeover and you won't let it go to waste."

"But..."

"No buts," Erza shut her up. "Get ready, we're leaving in ten minutes."

"Yes, Kim Jong-Erza," the young blonde mumbled under her breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

As expected from the red haired tyrant, she made them leave the house exactly ten minutes later, ignoring the pouts and whines from Lucy. They parked a few streets away from the club, but Lucy could still hear the – too – loud music from there and sighed as she watched dozens and dozens of people walking toward the nightclub.

"You said we'd go to a bar," Lucy whined once more. "This is a huge nightclub with lots of people and too much noise..."

"It's impolite to decline an invitation," Erza argued. "It's the birthday party of the cousin of a friend of an acquaintance of the twin brother of one of the nurses-in-training that invited me."

"What's her name?" Lucy asked.

"What's whose name?"

Lucy frowned and glanced at Mira, who was pretending not to hear them.

"The nurse-in-training that invited you," Lucy said again, "what's her name?"

Erza averted her eyes and looked at the gathering crowd as if trying to locate someone.

"I don't remember," she admitted, "Sofia, maybe, or Jeanette... Oh! I almost forgot."

She let her handbag slide down her arm and opened it before taking something out. Lucy recognized the things almost immediately.

"You're kidding me..."

"You're not allowed to enter the club without it," Erza explained. "And I won't let you go back home so put it on."

She held the silver mask out to Lucy and the young woman cringed as she forced herself to put it on. This evening was getting better and better...

"I want the red one!" Mira chimed.

At least one of them was having the time of her life.

Thanks to Erza's invitation – she really did have one – they were allowed to enter without going through the waiting line. The inside of the club was even louder than she had expected... Much darker too, even though there were several neon lights on the walls and colored light beams swept through the rooms at regular intervals. Lucy sighed as Mira caught her hand and dragged her to the other side of the room, Erza opening a path for them. They walked around the dance floor so as to not disturb the people that were already there – and there were a lot of them – and walked toward a small double staircase carpeted in black. Erza showed her invitation to one of the giant men that were guarding the stairs and guided her friends up the stairs and into a large, very dark gallery. Up there, the floor was carpeted too, and the only lights that were provided were neon lights. Large, private booths were arranged in a circle all around the room, along the walls. Lucy felt a bit more at ease in the darkness of the gallery and even smiled in relief when Erza told her that they had a reservation for one of the booths. Lucy entered the booth first and sat right by the wall, followed by Mira. But, when Erza moved to come in the booth too, a voice stopped her.

"Erza? Is that you?"

The redhead straightened up and turn to look at the man who had just called her name. With the loud music half-deafening them, it was hard to hear him.

"Yes," she confirmed.

"I didn't know you were coming," the man went on, "you never enjoyed this kind of parties."

Erza snickered.

"As if you're one to talk," she mocked, "I'm surprised that you actually agreed to come."

"I was forced to come," he assured.

"Right... I have company so I'll let you go back to your friends as well."

"Sure," the man agreed, "I'll see you later. Bring your friends to our booth if you feel lonely."

Erza nodded at him and entered the booth to sit in front of Lucy.

"A friend of yours?" the younger woman asked.

Erza nodded and waved at a woman with a very shiny, tight black dress to come over. She ordered three drinks and the waitress left.

"Yes," she confirmed, "it was Natsu."

End of chapter 6

Early (and pretty long) chapter this time! As usual, don't hesitate to tell me what you've thought of the chapter. While I'm at it, I'd like to thank all of you who took the time to leave a review. I unfortunately can't answer those of you who left a review without logging in, but I read them all and I'm always super happy to see how much you guys like this story. It's very flattering.

I've been asked this a few times so I'll answer here: I don't have an update schedule, I post new chapters as soon as they're ready, and it can take some time because of work, college and life in general, but I'll finish the story, don't worry!

Also, I apologize in advance because I came up with an idea for one of the characters while writing this chapter and you definitely won't like it when you find out about it.

A special thanks to Vilchen: you asked me to keep the roller coaster going, I hope you had fun on this ride.