PART I – Resolution
Chapter VIII – Thunderbolt
"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
Lucy's eyes fluttered open and she was immediately dazzled by the bright sunlight. It wasn't raining anymore and the air was filled with the smell of fresh summer rain on the grass. It made her feel calm. Her arms tightened around the neck of the person that was carrying her and she felt their arms tighten around her in response. This person was very gentle. She heard voices. The person who was carrying her was talking with Michelle, they seemed to get along.
"She's not that heavy," the person said, "I can still carry her."
"We've been walking for hours," Michelle protested, "I'm surprised that you still have the strength to move..."
Hours? Then, everything came back to her. The attack, the soldiers, her father, the hunt in the woods, the boy with the shotgun. She turned her head on the shoulder of the person who was carrying her and glanced at the side of their face. It really was him, the boy with the shotgun. What a strange hair color... Her eyes closed again when she felt the soft vibrations of his laughter run through his body. The last words she heard were the boy's: ''Don't worry, he said, I'll take care of you both.''
Training was absolute hell. The commander sent his men to wake them up the following morning at 3 o'clock and immediately scolded them for being too slow to wake up.
"The game can last a few days," he explained, obviously annoyed, "what can you do against trained second years if you can't even wake up quickly!"
It had been hours since then and they were still running in the forest, panting under the scorching sun, having no idea what in the world they were running for. Well, that actually wasn't true, they knew what they had to find, they just had no idea how they were going to find it. Among the thirty men in Natsu's team – each of them being a trained soldier – there was one who had a black little case containing a coded message strapped to his wrist. There was such a person in Lucy's team too. But the identity of the ones wearing those cases was a mystery even to Natsu, Mira had been the one to choose them. In each team, another person had been designated as the Bishop, they were wearing red ribbons on their arms and were the only ones to know the identity of their respective team's case holder. Lucy was wearing the red ribbon for her team. Naturally, the members of her team decided to stick to her while searching for the enemy Bishop, but it quickly proved to be completely useless when Natsu's men appeared and dispersed them, leaving her alone in the forest with the commander standing in front of her. Lucy's knees were bent and her muscles were tense, she looked ready to jump away from him at any moment. He checked his surroundings and looked back at her, smirking when he noticed the wary look on her face.
"You know you have no chance of escaping me, right?" he asked, walking toward her with confident steps.
Lucy gulped and took a step back at each of his steps. She knew very well that he would catch her if she tried to run, but it didn't mean that she wasn't tempted to try anyway... And where were Gajeel and Gray? They were supposed to stay with her and take Natsu on if he were to appear!
"You look tired," the commander noted, "we've been playing for a long time already. Maybe you should take a rest? The game's coming to an end anyway. Just tell me who's your case holder and we can end this already."
His voice was smooth and he didn't look menacing at all. She was tired and he was reassuring. Her thoughts went back to the party, he had been even nicer that night. Would he be that nice again if she told him who the case holder was? Lost in her thoughts, Lucy realized that the commander never stopped walking only when he was standing right in front of her, his large hand encircling her tiny wrist. His grip was firm and his skin was warm, it sent shivers up her arm and down her back. She tried to yank it away, but he wouldn't let her. He was trying to trick her! He was attacking her psychologically! Well, it almost worked so she didn't have anything to be proud of, even though she did manage to figure it out. Ok, this could be of use to her. Let him think that she could be convinced while she thinks of a plan to bring him where she needed him to be.
"Will you tell the others that I told you?" she asked, trying to sound as vulnerable as possible.
Natsu's smile softened again, he really was a good actor!
"I promise I won't tell anybody."
Lucy nodded and dropped her head, eyes searching the leafy ground for something she knew was nearby and motioning for him to come closer, as if afraid her voice would attract unwanted attention. Natsu did, slowly, observing each of her movements with trained eyes, she wouldn't be able to take him by surprise. Or so he thought. Natsu was taller than her, so he had to bend down to let her whisper the name of the case holder in his ear. She smirked when she noticed that he was hesitating, he was wary of her. Her left hand went to cover her mouth as she whispered, just like a child would do.
"I took the ribbon in the huts from the first game," she said, "I'm not the Bishop."
The commander immediately tried to get away, but Gajeel and Gray pulled on the camouflaged rope that tied his ankles and made him fall to his knees. He was quick to react, though, and it wouldn't take him more than ten seconds to free himself from the rope had Lucy not expected it. But she had. She also expected the commander to be too proud to ask his men to escort him. Everything was going according to her plan. And she knew for sure that the case holder would be him. It had to be. She also knew very well that she wasn't strong enough to catch his arm and steal the case, and Gajeel and Gray had to hold the rope, so they couldn't help her. So she jumped on him to pin his back to the floor, her knees coming to push on his shoulders. She knew the effect of surprise wouldn't give her more than four seconds to act, so she used them wisely.
As expected, the commander's hands instinctively shot up the moment he felt her on him and gripped her hips, trying to push her to the side. His grip was tighter and rougher than the grip he had on her when they danced. Lucy acted in a flash, she grabbed his right arm and her hand brushed against his wrist, against the case. She snatched it and threw it at Gray, who dropped his side of the rope and dashed out. Gajeel congratulated her and followed after him to protect him from Natsu's men. The commander obviously didn't stop resisting just because they had his case, he actually struggled even more and Lucy felt like a rodeo queen. Her knees dropped from his shoulders to the thin spot above his biceps, effectively slowing him down. He then decided to change tactics and his legs wrapped themselves around Lucy's waist. What a funny feeling of déjà-vu.
She was pushed on her back in the very next second, his large, calloused hands wrapped around her wrists by her head. It took her a few seconds to get all her senses back and when she did, her eyes widened and her stomach contracted and started to spread an aggressive warmth through all her body, especially in her lower abdomen and along her inner thighs. He was hovering over her, pinning her to the ground and smirking down at her with the most dangerous glint she had ever seen in his eyes. It wasn't the playful smirk she had come to get used to, no, it was a large, predatory smile that exposed his pointed canines and had her remain motionless underneath his heavy body. He bent down and she felt his abnormally high body temperature through their combat uniform.
"That was very well done," he admitted.
His voice was very low and reverberated through her own body, it took a lot of efforts on her part not to shudder. After the party, Lucy had noticed that she was more conscious of her commander, she was prone to remember the slow sway of his hips against hers, the warmth of his hands on her waist, the thrill of having her arms wrapped around his neck, her chest pressed against his, the feel of his lips against her neck. And yet, while those memories were enough to make her blush and feel uncomfortably hot, the feeling of having him hovering over her, looking like a wicked hyena easily overpowered them all and sent violent waves of lava through her whole body. She wanted to grab his neck and hair and push him back down. Instead, she lifted her eyes when she felt something cold touch her wrists. She gaped uselessly at them when she saw what he had done. He had handcuffed her.
"But I'm not letting you guys decode the message."
He jumped back to his feet in the very next second and turned around before stopping dead in his tracks. He glanced at her over his shoulder and looked all around to make sure that no one was there. His mischievous smirk coming back to stretch his lips. Lucy tried to get away from him when he walked back toward her, but he was crouching in front of her in no time, grabbing her tied wrists. Lucy pulled on the handcuffs with no real effort, she was confused. He looked like he was having fun and it was strange to see this carefree look in his eyes. He always looked so serious and disciplined. But, at this moment, he was feeling comfortable enough to allow himself to enjoy the game.
"Now that I think about it," he smirked, "I think you tricking me in such a way was very presumptuous. What kind of officer would I be if I let you go without punishing you?"
Lucy let a nervous laugh escape her lips.
"A nice officer?" she suggested.
She didn't like where this was going. His smirk widened.
"Nice try."
He pushed her back down and Lucy heard noisy screams not far from here as the commander was bending down to do God knows what. The latter stood back up when one of his men ran toward them. Lucy rolled around and stood back up as well before going to hide behind thick bushes, but staying close enough to hear what the soldier wanted.
"Commander!" he called. "They decoded the message!"
He sounded pretty worried, but Natsu only nodded.
"Who did?" he asked.
"The guy with black hair, the one who never speaks, Rogue. This kid is sick, by the way, you should have seen him fight..."
The commander nodded again.
"I'm not surprised. Well, gather our men, this is our loss."
Behind her thick bushes, Lucy was staring at them, her wide eyes matching her smile.
oOo
The academy's cook was called to the refectory in the afternoon and Natsu asked him to cook for the recruits since they didn't get to eat before training. The blonde, sassy cook complained about being exploited, but still agreed to make them some food, that tasted delicious, as usual. Only two tables were occupied since a lot of recruits had given up on the Capture or had been kicked out of the team. Lucy porked out on her meat and potatoes, just like all of them did, and even got the cook to give her an extra portion. Lucy smirked at the recruits that glared at her. The cook would only allow her to get seconds for some reason.
"You guys did very good today," the commander was saying, "I'm satisfied with your current level, but we'll keep training to make sure we're ready by Monday."
The recruits nodded, they were all smiling and winking at each other. It was true that the ones that were still in the team were pretty strong.
"Now," Natsu went on, "I will assign you a position. You will get special training according to your position every day until the day of the game. Any question?"
Sting lifted his hand.
"Yes?"
"Can we change positions with someone else?"
"No. Anything else? Yes, Sting..."
"Why?"
"Because I said so."
The blonde guy pouted as Natsu took a sheet of paper out of his pocket.
"Now, listen closely," he ordered. "Gajeel, you'll be my second captain. Don't smirk like that, it just means that you'll be my slave. Jet, you're a scout. Gray, Attack team. Elfman, Attack team. Sting and Rogue, Defense team. Mest, scout. Alzack and Luc, snipers. Max, Defense team. Dan, Attack team. Haru, Attack team..."
To be honest, Lucy kind of stopped listening to him when she heard that she would be a sniper. This was more than perfect! How easy would it be to join the snipers' course now? She could do it, she could be part of the Elite team. She would find the location of the Pandemonium and bring her father back with her. Then, they would run away from this country and live as free men somewhere far away.
When the guys were done eating, they all stood up and waved at the cook to thank him. Lucy did the same, but Natsu grabbed her wrist before she could leave the room.
"Do you have a moment?" he asked.
"Um..." she hesitated, "we still have a class today, even though I already missed almost all of..."
"I won't be long," Natsu interrupted her, "sit down, please."
Lucy eyed the door, the atmosphere was pretty serious, whatever he wanted to talk about, it couldn't be good. She still obeyed, obviously. The commander wasn't smiling, he wasn't even looking at her either. He was only staring at his sheet of paper, fidgeting in his chair.
"I guess taking part in the game without Loke feels a bit weird for you," he said.
Lucy's eyes kept going back to the door. Why was he asking this? It was just a game, why should it matter if Loke wasn't taking part in it? She shrugged, even if he couldn't see her.
"Not really," she admitted, "I'll just see him after the game..."
Natsu played with the sheet in his hands, eyes glued to the messy handwriting.
"Right," he said. "Of course you will."
His voice was dry, cold. He finally lifted his eyes to meet hers and she was stunned to see the sternness in them.
"You're close to him, aren't you? Do you think you could convince him to take the test? I talked with Gramps, he's willing to make an exception and allow him to be part of my team if he can pass it."
Gramps? Who was Gramps? Oh!The general. Lucy's eyes widened and her smile imitated them.
"Really?"
The cold and distant look on his face faded away as a small, lopsided smile appeared on the commander's lips when he saw her cheerful reaction. He visibly relaxed and Lucy assumed that he hadn't expected her to be so cooperative. He shrugged and waves of sassiness were spilling out of him.
"What can I say? I'm an important person."
Lucy laughed, he was cocking an eyebrow and looking so cheeky, it was very amusing. He reached out and ruffled her hair.
"Don't laugh at your officer," he scolded her. "So, are you going to talk to him? He's a competent recruit, I'd like to have him in my team."
He wasn't smiling anymore, but his facial features were far less stern than they were before. Seeing him this laid back and easy going felt familiar for some reason, and Lucy got the feeling that maybe the disciplined officer with a mask of steel was more human and kinder than he let on. Lucy smiled brightly and nodded.
"I will," she assured, "though I can't promise you he will listen to me."
Natsu shrugged.
"If he really doesn't want to, then there's nothing we can do. I just want him to be sure he won't regret it."
That was a very logic argument, Lucy had to admit.
"Why don't you speak to him directly?" she asked. "You're an officer, he won't dare ignore you."
The commander averted his eyes and his hands reached up to massage his neck like he usually did when Lucy did or said something to make him ill at ease.
"It's a personal matter," he explained, "if someone tells you to face your deepest fear, you won't listen unless it comes from someone you care about. And I heard you guys were pretty close, though I don't know how close exactly..."
He looked very uncomfortable after saying this and Lucy frowned, trying to think of a reason why his cheeks were starting to redden. What did he mean ''how close''... Oh. Lucy tried to stay serious when she finally understood the reason of her commander's embarrassment, but the muscles of her face contracted to force her to smile until she couldn't take it anymore and guffawed. She laughed even harder when she saw the look of confusion on his face. Since she was dying of laughter, Natsu crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in his chair to wait for her to calm down.
"You done?" he asked when she stopped laughing to catch her breath.
She nodded, though she was still laughing, and wiped a tear under her right eye.
"Sorry," she smiled, "I really didn't see that one coming."
She probably would have calmed down for good had Natsu looked really angry or annoyed, but he was smiling too. Thinking back on those last few days, he seemed to be smiling a bit more often lately, Lucy wondered if it was normal for him and if he was only being a despotic jackass when he was on duty.
"We're close friends," she finally said, "I'll talk to him."
The commander nodded and stood up, taking his files with him.
"Thank you. Now, scram."
oOo
Lucy didn't even have enough time to have a shower as she was assaulted by a flying moron the moment she set foot in the main building's hall. She didn't know how Loke did to always look like he had just jumped off the second floor. He was only wearing his white uniform pants and a black tank top with white claw marks on the shoulders. His hair was a mess.
"Where were you, man?" he asked. "We've been looking for you for hours!"
"I was with the commander, and it didn't even take us an hour..."
"Pfff," he snickered, "you finally got it done, huh? Well, congrats, now, come with me!"
He grabbed her hand and dragged her outside. Lucy obviously understood what he meant and why he was congratulating her, but something else was worrying her at the moment.
"Loke, are you drunk?"
The redhead turned around to look at her with wide, surprised eyes.
"How do you know? I was super careful not to let it show!"
Oh Lord...
"Where did you get it?"
Loke giggled and put a finger in front of his mouth.
"The girls are celebrating someone's birthday, but it's a secret, ok? You're not allowed to tell on us, ok?"
Lucy let out a funny noise that was half laugh, half sigh. It was forbidden to bring or drink alcohol inside the Academy, they'd be kicked out if they were found out.
"What about the officers?" she asked.
Loke shrugged, they sidestepped the sports field and walked behind the barracks to make sure no one could see them.
"Busy talking about Ivan, terrorists, the game and other stuff. They won't be around tonight. Probably."
Probably...
Loke kicked the door of the nurses' dorms open and dragged her toward a heavy door visibly leading to some kind of cellar. He kicked this door open as well and climbed the stairs down, lifting Lucy's hand in the air when they finally reached the last step.
"Guess who I found back there?"
Lucy noted that a lot of first years were here, as well as second years. The nurses were almost all present. Someone gave her a glass of something she supposed was vodka and Loke dragged her to his spot on a corner of the room.
"Where are Gray and Gajeel?" she asked, not seeing them around.
Loke gulped his drink and shrugged. One of the nurses sat on his laps and smiled at Lucy, listening to their conversation as if it was normal.
"Gajeel's off somewhere with Levy," he said, "I'm not sure where they are, but I think they're still inside. Gray didn't want to come, he looked pissed off for some reason."
Lucy looked around. She didn't really know the recruits that were present and almost everyone was drunk. The music wasn't really loud, but it was still dangerous to hold a party here. God, they were violating so many rules just by being here... Lucy put her glass on a wooden box without taking even a sip.
"I'm not really in the mood," she finally said, "I'm leaving too."
"What? No!" Loke protested. "We just got here!"
"You got here much sooner than I did," Lucy countered, "and you drank too much."
Loke gently pushed the nurse to the side so she could get off his laps and got up. He grabbed Lucy's wrist to keep her from leaving.
"Come on, please," he insisted, "just one more hour."
Lucy frowned. He was wasted. She took his glass from his hand and threw it somewhere in the back of the room, it crashed against a stone wall.
"Hey!"
"Who gave you so much to drink?"
He shrugged and looked around with squinted eyes.
"I... don't remember."
Lucy sighed.
"I'm leaving and you're coming with me."
Beside her, someone bumped into her and spilled the content of their glass on her white shirt.
"Sorry, dude," the recruit drawled, "I didn't see ya... hey, what's that?"
He pointed to her dirty shirt and she looked down to see that her bandage was starting to show through it. Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!
"None of your business," she growled.
The recruit took a few unsteady steps back and left her alone.
"You're hurt again?" Loke asked, frowning at the bandage.
Lucy tried to dry her shirt with her hands, but it didn't help in the slightest.
"No," she answered, "it's nothing, don't worry."
Loke stopped talking, but didn't stop staring with a solemn frown. What was he thinking? A thin arm wrapped itself around the redhead's shoulders and a smiling face appeared a second later. The brown haired girl with the tattoo on the hip winked at Lucy and held a clean shirt out to her.
"You can get changed in the cupboard, there," she said, pointing to a hidden door. "I'll take care of your friend."
Lucy hesitated and her eyes went from the girl to her friend, not knowing who she could trust at this party. The girl smirked.
"Or you can walk through the campus with a drenched shirt on, it's not like it would be a problem for me."
Lucy accepted the shirt and entered the small cupboard. She only needed a few seconds to get changed and get out, nothing bad could happen in the meantime. She took off the dirty shirt and threw it to the side before remembering that she would need to pay for it if she didn't clean it. She bent down to pick it up when the door of the cupboard opened. The girl that was supposed to keep an eye on Loke entered and closed the door behind her. Lucy froze, her shirt in her hand. She hadn't locked the door. But what kind of cupboard has a lock anyway? Since when was she this stupid? Should she knock her out? If she was lucky, the girl wouldn't remember any of this when she woke up. The girl in question smirked and crossed her arms over her chest.
"First of all," she said, "your secret is safe with me."
Lucy frowned, but decided to keep playing her part anyway. If she placed her arms in front of her chest, she could hide the curves and pretend that she was hurt.
"What secret? I was hurt during training."
The girl snickered.
"You saw me ditch class once and you deduce that I'm an idiot?" she laughed. "I know what a man looks like under the clothes, you're a bit too curvy."
"That's discrimination," Lucy accused with a voice filled with irony. She was so screwed.
"The name's Cana," the girl extended a hand for Lucy to shake it.
Lucy warily took Cana's hand and the woman laughed.
"I don't bite, you know. Aren't you going to put it on?"
Lucy realized that she was still holding the clean shirt in her hand and immediately slipped it on.
"I can't say I like you better when you're dressed," Cana winked. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions, but it's late and your friend needs to be taken back to his room."
Lucy hesitated, she couldn't exactly take the risk to leave now that her secret had been discovered. Cana got away from the door and took a step forward to go stand right in front of Lucy, who somehow got annoyed when she noticed that Cana was slightly taller than her.
"I told you I won't tell anyone about you," Cana repeated. "We will have a talk, don't worry, but not now."
Lucy nodded. Cana had beautiful brown eyes, she smelled good and had this charisma that kind of invited you to trust her.
"When?" Lucy asked.
Cana's smile turned softer and she patted her head, like she would do to a younger sibling.
"I'll come to see you soon, don't worry. Now, get lost."
Lucy was kicked out of the cupboard and received a few teasing smiles from the recruits. She found Loke sitting by the stairs, quietly waiting for her. She grabbed his hand and they left. They walked slowly and the cool air seemed to help her friend get better. He actually didn't look that drunk anymore, only a bit tipsy.
"I get why you wanted to go out," he admitted, "and you're right, we were asking for trouble back there. I hope Gajeel's not inside anymore."
Lucy snickered.
"I'm pretty sure he ditched you as soon as he found Levy."
Loke laughed.
"That might be true," he glanced at her over his shoulder and smiled, "thanks for not leaving without me."
Lucy stopped dead in her tracks.
"Ok, what's wrong?"
Loke stopped walking as well, he turned around and looked at her, his face devoid of emotion.
"What's wrong?" he repeated.
Lucy took a few steps so she could lower her voice, they weren't supposed to be outside of their room at this hour.
"You've been acting weird since that day the officers asked us to take the test," she went on. "I want to know why."
Loke smiled and ruffled her hair.
"You're worried about me, little man?" he laughed. "Don't worry, I'm tough, I'm alright."
She grabbed his wrist and squeezed it until she saw him wince.
"That kinda hurts..."
"I trust you," she declared. "I love you dearly, you're my best friend and if you need me, I'll be there for you. Don't lie to me, please."
Loke's smile completely faded away when she said that, his jaw contracted and he gulped. A nervous laugh escaped his lips and he wrapped an arm around the blonde's shoulders.
"Thanks," he breathed, "you don't know how much it means to me."
Lucy's own arms laced themselves around his waist and gripped his shirt as he laid his chin on her head.
"Just give me some time," he asked, "I'll tell you when I'm ready. Is that alright?"
"If I say yes, will you listen to a request?"
Loke laughed softly, he had expected her to answer with a trembling yes and tears in her eyes, not with a request.
"What do you want?"
Lucy let go of him and slightly pulled away so she could grin at him.
"Well..."
oOo
"Why are you smiling like that?" Mira asked when Lucy entered her office with a bright smile.
"Because I'm a genius," the recruit answered.
"And a humble one at that," Mira laughed.
Lucy smirked and sat down in front of the desk so she could look Mira in the eyes.
"Loke agreed to take the fear test."
Mira's smile fell down faster than a meteor on Earth.
"He did what?"
"I know," Lucy said, "I'm the best. He only has one condition, he wants the general to be his instructor during the test. Do you think that's possible?"
Mira frowned, she didn't look amused by the situation anymore.
"I think so..." she trailed off, "but what did you tell him to make him change his mind?"
The recruit shrugged and decided that the start of her conversation with Loke was a bit too private to share it with Mirajane.
"Nothing much, just told him that he could rely on me and he should live his life without regrets. I also told him that Natsu thought highly of him and wanted him in the team."
"Natsu?"
Lucy nodded and started to play with the drinking bird on Mira's desk.
"Yeah, he asked me to ask Loke to take the test."
"That's... surprising."
Lucy arched an eyebrow and left the bird alone.
"Why is that?"
Outside the window you could see the grey sky and the heavily pouring rain that kept hammering the glass. A storm was coming.
"Mira shook her head."
"Don't worry about it," she said, "it happened a long time ago."
Lucy frowned and started to bully the drinking bird once again.
"But you were the one to bring it up," she retorted, "come on, tell me."
The colonel sighed and laced her fingers together, her elbows resting on the desk.
"I'm not supposed to tell you about this, so you obviously can't talk about it to anybody else, but Natsu took the test too, and it didn't go well."
"Really?" Lucy tried to imagine her fearless commandant running out of the barracks in fear, but the image was blurry, unimaginable. "What happened?"
Mira started to avoid Lucy's eyes and visibly got nervous.
"I wasn't there when they conducted those tests," she assured, "even the general wasn't there yet. The head of the Academy still was that person, at the time..."
Lucy frowned, she didn't understand what the colonel was saying. Who was that person? And what had they done that was so terrible? Mira hadn't looked that scared even when Ivan had locked Gajeel inside that coffin.
"And Natsu was so young," she deplored, "he was too young to take the test, but he wanted to be part of the Elite team so bad..."
Lucy clenched her fists on her laps. Mira was crying.
"What did they do?" she asked again.
Someone knocked at the door and entered without waiting for an answer.
"Sorry for interrupting," the soldier said, "the general wants to see you to talk about the game."
Mira smiled and nodded.
"I'll be there in a second, thank you."
The soldier nodded and left without a glance at Lucy. The colonel stood up and wiped a stray tear that had run down her cheek when she wasn't paying attention. Her angelic smile was back on her lips and it never annoyed Lucy as much as it did at the moment.
"We'll continue this conversation later," Mira promised, "I can't make the general wait."
"Right..."
Mira caressed Lucy's hair on her way out of the office and Lucy let her do, it's not like she resented her for whatever happened at the Academy in the past, but she really wanted to know about it.
Lucy skipped lunch, she wasn't really hungry, and was only physically present in class. She didn't pay attention to what the instructors said and stared out of the window. The sky had darkened even more with each passing hour and you could hear the rumble of thunder already. It was still raining heavily.
When she was three years old, Lucy saw a flash of lightning hit the surface of a lake in her mother's estate. She ran out of the mansion and laughed as she sprinted through the land, under the heavily pouring rain, chasing thunderbolts. Her father almost had a heart attack when he came back home and found her near the lake.
Natsu decided that the weather wasn't that bad and that they could have their combat class outside, under the rain and the approaching storm. Lucy didn't mind, but most recruits kept sending worried glances at the angry sky. The commander told them that they would box and that the first recruit that could make one of his knees touch the ground would get a reward.
"What kind of reward?" Loke asked.
To Lucy's relief, he looked better after their talk from the day before, and seemed to be back to his former cheerful self, if only partially. Natsu lifted both hands and smiled his lopsided, playful smile.
"You name it."
It was funny how all the recruits seemed to forget what a monstrous fighter the commander was when they were told they could choose a reward. Lucy smirked as she watched Sting try to throw a punch and end up with his butt over his head in the very next second. The same thing happened to pretty much everybody until Gajeel raised his hand, smirking madly.
"I'll try," he declared.
Natsu smirked back and Lucy smiled when she realized it was his real smile. They weren't fighting the commander anymore, they were fighting a young man who happened to be a powerful opponent and was enjoying his playtime. Gajeel did good, but Natsu still won. And the commander was still smirking and sending cheeky looks to the impressed recruits. Lucy walked forward when his eyes met hers.
"You really like it when I kick your ass," he laughed.
Lucy shrugged.
"I just didn't want you to lose in front of your recruits," she retorted, "I let you win."
A sudden crash of thunder made the recruits jump and quiver. From the corner of her eye, she saw Gray and Gajeel gather with Loke on the side so they could watch the fight and laugh at the loser. The commander's smirk widened.
"Give it all you've got, pipsqueak."
As expected, Natsu chose the basic stance for his guard, and Lucy knew he often forgot to change stances and had a tendency to let his left side open when feeling a bit too enthusiast about the fight. What? She knew she'd have to fight him one day, so she prepared herself. The commander was fast and he would be unbeatable if he decided to work on it, but he tended to lack finesse in the ring, he made up for it in raw power, often able to knock almost any opponent out with a single punch. The only problem was that the grass was slippery because of the rain and it was dark out there. Lucy chose the basic stance at first too, but she knew the commander would go for straight attacks, then she would duck and adjust her stance to use the ''low guard'' and counter attack.
"The winner gets to choose the reward, huh?"
All heads turned to the left side of the field. A man with blue hair, dressed in combat uniform was walking toward them with his hands in his pockets. Lucy stared at the red tattoo on his face when he got close enough for her to be able to do so.
"Then," the stranger smirked darkly, "I'll take your dignity."
Natsu snickered and nodded at the man. He then turned to Lucy and winked at her.
"You're lucky, kiddo, I'm gonna make this moron eat the dust before I take care of you."
He stretched his arms and cracked his knuckles. Lucy gulped, he was getting ready for real. He lifted an arm toward the blue haired man and smirked, motioning for him to come at him.
"Whenever you're ready, Jellal."
End of chapter 8
Alright, I have a few things to say. First of all, hello. Then, a lot of you sent reviews and private messages and I want to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for your support, it means a lot to me and I'm only writing this chapter today because of you guys, because I feel like doing nothing now that I'm done with my exams! So thank you very much to everyone who favorited/followed, sent reviews, threatened to kill me if I didn't update the story quickly enough. I'm glad to see that a lot of you are already getting attached to the characters and have theories about what may or may not come, this is inspiring for me too.
Now, as for the reviews, I seriously don't remember which ones I answered because I'm old and senile. But some of you asked interesting questions and I'll answer them here:
Q: Guest: There will be some Gruvia?
A: Yes, definitely.
Q: Fuji99: How is it that Mira woman and a soldier, you shall be made even lucy man?
A: Mira became an officer after spending a few years in the army, she didn't study at the Academy, she was just called as an instructor because of her skills!
Q: KittyCrow12: Who pulled the fire alarm? Who was the idiot who stole Mira's happy shipper moment?!
A: I dont know, he ran away before I could write an accurate description!
Q: KittyCrow12: I really want Natsu to figure out who Lucy is, but at the same time, I don't... the inner conflict is real. Has Gray figured it out? Caveat: does Gray remember Lucy? Lyon... Speaking of which, what happened to him?!
A: I already have answers for all these questions, but I won't give them to you. You'll have to wait and see!
Q: FairyLover01: will Ivan come back?
A: I'm not sure yet if he will physically come back, but he won't just accept his punishment like that and forgive everyone at the Academy, haha!
Q: kana-chan: hi, i was wondering how old they all are?
A: I leave it up to your imagination but the first years are between 18 and 21, the second years are a bit older.
Q: several: Will there be a chapter in Natsu's POV?
A: Yes.
Notes: This thing about posting previews is a pain in the ass so I probably won't do it in the end (at least not all the time).
I'm growing impatient with the lack of Nalu in this story, so I will speed things up between them (meaning you guys will soon understand why I rated this M).
My Tumblr: hungrypeanut
See you guys soon for the next chapter!
Preview:
Natsu came to sit closer to her and lifted his hand to take her chin with his fingers. His hold was gentle and he slowly turned her jaw so he could look at the wound on her forehead. He looked worried. His eyes were much graver when they found hers again.
"You can't remember anything?"
She stared at him with a confused look that could most probably be interpreted as fear. She shook her head.
...Ten hours earlier...