Author's Note:
Yippee, a super extra long chapter! There have been a few requests for longer chapters, and while I can't do it consistently by any means – not if I want to keep posting as frequently – I can certainly manage a super long chapter every now and then! Don't expect them too, too often, but I'll try to have double-sized chapters like this one from time to time. :D More and more often if this gets a positive response. ;)
Also, Sorry this is out a day late. I got back from my trip waaaaay later last night than I expected, and I just crashed. But hopefully the extra long chapter will make up for it. :D
And of course, as always, a HUGE thanks to everyone who reviewed! You are all absolutely amazing and wonderful! Big hugs and kisses to my repeat reviewers: Elphaba818, WisdomDragon27, dlshieldss, TheJSmooth, Wolves silver wind, Ksta, valerioux, RoyaldragonSevgisi15, MiseryWolf97, and dihan! Equally big hugs and kisses to my newest reviewers: ravenqueen162, Larissa, and FantasyDreamer06!
Also,before we get started … I just wanted to warn you that the second half of this chapter gets a little wonky. Lots of funny ideas got smushed together. So … yeah, it's not the smoothest thing in the world, but I hope everyone enjoys it nonetheless. :D
And stay tuned for the sneak peek at the end of the chapter. ;)
They returned a few days later with Wendy in tow. As it turned out, her guild had all been the magical construct of one old man – who had been alive through magical means simply to guard Nirvana. With it gone, he no longer had a purpose, so he and the rest of the Cait Shelter guild disappeared … leaving Wendy alone. They had very quickly offered to let her join Fairy Tail, and she had instantly accepted the offer.
So, they had returned with her, and Master had accepted the small sky dragon slayer without any qualms as expected. As usual, everyone had been incredibly pleased to have another new member, and she was immediately introduced around and making new friends. She was instantly a big hit with everyone.
The day after their return found them sitting around a table discussing it all with enthusiasm.
"This is awesome! I bet we're the only guild to have three dragon slayers in it!" Lucy exclaimed happily to her teammates as she slurped on a strawberry smoothie.
"Three?"
"Oh! That's right, you've never met Laxus before, have you Natsu?" Erza asked, as they all realized the same thing simultaneously.
"He's a lightning dragon slayer. One of our three most powerful wizards actually." Lucy explained to her pink-haired partner as he sent her a questioning look.
"Well technically…we have four dragon slayers."
Everyone looked at Happy, who had said the odd statement.
"You have four dragon slayers?" Juvia asked then as she sat down next to Gray. He didn't even flinch or seem surprised by her sudden appearance.
"Um…no?" Lucy responded to her question, in a state of confusion with everyone else about her cat's comment.
"Oh yes we do…" Happy said once again, and everyone could tell from his puffed-up cheeks and glittering eyes that he was about to land a joke. "I mean, you've gotta include Lucy."
At this point, everyone just grew even more confused. When he got a series of silent questioning stares, he finally started laughing and dropped the punchline. "After all, she's got Natsu on a leash, right?"
There was a second as everyone absorbed the pun, and then suddenly they all started laughing. Gray practically fell out of his seat he was laughing so hard, while Erza managed to keep it to semi-polite chuckles. Even Lucy had to snicker a little at it.
The only one who seemed unamused was the actual dragon in question, who instantly protested. "Hey! Nobody's got me on a leash!"
"I've seen her kick you out of the apartment and put you in time-out when you do stuff she's told you not to!" Happy countered.
At this everyone only laughed harder, while Lucy flushed a little. This whole thing wasn't making her sound too great either, although she still was amused by the joke. Natsu just growled, but eventually even he had to crack a smile.
"Well…she is my mage…so…I guess…" he slowly admitted, and then snorted a little as the joke finally got him.
At that point a snide voice inserted itself. "Well, I guess that means I gotta get myself a talking cat too then…"
"Huh?" Gray asked for them all as they glanced at the iron dragon slayer that had suddenly appeared.
Gajeel had sort of…grown on everyone in the time he'd been part of the guild, and everyone was basically used to his surly presence by now. Still, he was a loner, so it was kind of a shock that he was inserting himself into their conversation.
"Oh, hello Gajeel." Juvia greeted, though she was the only one who did so. The rest of them just stared at him quizzically thanks to his introductory statement, which seemed pretty random.
"Well, you're sayin' that she's a dragon slayer now right?" he jerked his thumb at Lucy to indicate which 'she' he was talking about.
The restatement of the joke got a few snickers from everyone, but it still didn't really answer the question.
"What're you getting at Metal Mouth?" Natsu growled, seeming a little ticked off at the iron dragon slayer getting in on the joke.
It seemed that whatever train of thought Gajeel had previously been on had either gotten derailed, or else he thought better about stating his thoughts, because he didn't elucidate. Instead, he proceeded to pick a fight with the celestial fire dragon, and they went off on a tear. Before they did though, Lucy noted clearly how Gajeel's eyes had landed hard on Happy and then on Carla with a deep scowl between his pierced brows.
When he showed up covered in cat scratches the next day, Lucy almost couldn't hold back her laugh. It seemed that he was now under the impression that a dragon slayer was supposed to have a talking cat as a sidekick, and Gajeel was exposing a previously unknown soft spot by caring about not having one of his own. He even seemed rather depressed about it, much to Lucy's surprise, but she refrained from saying anything about it to anyone.
To be honest, it was kind of cute in a weird way … to see this big pierced tough guy brought down by suddenly realizing that he didn't have a cat.
She silently observed him over the course of the next several weeks, noting that he kept accumulating cat scratches on a regular basis – even when he'd been out on a mission – as if he was actively pursuing random felines in an attempt to find one that talked. At this point, she was a little surprised he hadn't just picked a normal one, but she supposed that he was way too stubborn for that.
Soon though, she didn't have too much time to pay attention to him.
Summer was coming upon the Fairy Tail guild, and that meant that everyone started getting ready for the big Summertime Games Fair. If there was one thing to be said about Fairy Tail, it was that they loved their celebrations. Every season had one huge dedicated celebration: spring had the Cherry Blossom Festival, Autumn had a two-part Halloween/Harvest themed festival, winter had the big Fairy Tail Parade and the Christmas Party, and of course summer was no different with its Summertime Games Fair.
During this time of the year, everyone prepared for a fair that would last several days and be full of drinking, games, challenges, food, fun, and of course a little mayhem. There would be a Miss Fairy Tail pageant with a cash prize that Lucy thoroughly planned to win, various physical challenges that Natsu was fired up about, and a fishing booth that Happy would probably spend most of his time at. This year though, there was also the lure of Carla, and Lucy recommended he try to win her over with some prizes, food, or other things that could be either purchased or won at the various events and booths.
For this most ostentatious occasion, the Thunder Legion had even returned, which promised to cause extra chaos during all the activities. Laxus had been known to throw some major temper tantrums in the past and had almost been kicked out of the guild more than once. In fact, about a year ago he had been temporarily banished for six months. He hadn't returned until ten months later and seemed at least somewhat repentant.
Hopefully he wouldn't do anything too stupid during the fair.
The members of his team came in handy at least, especially Freed. He was a master whiz at rune magic, and it would make for all kinds of interesting traps, fun, and games during the fair. He'd been stolen by Mirajane almost as soon as he set foot inside of the guildhall. Meanwhile, Bickslow goofed off, as was usual for him, and Evergreen ended up sulking around Elfman – who everyone knew she had a crush on, but refused to admit to it.
As for Laxus, he ended up getting lassoed into helping out the master in preparing for the fair activities, which he did … but with some very loud protesting. However, as the master's grandson, it wasn't exactly surprising that he would be recruited to help.
Meanwhile, Natsu was in charge of making several big bonfires that would be set around the Fairy Tail property – outside of course – and Lucy focused on helping Erza plan the pageant. Everyone was super busy, so by the time the fair actually rolled around, they were all more than ready to take a load off and party.
It kicked off with a bang as usual, and the first day everyone ate and drank and talked and laughed and relaxed and played games like there was no tomorrow.
"Oi! Luce!"
At the sound of her name, she turned to see Natsu loping towards her with a big grin on his face.
"Oh hey Natsu. Where have you been?" That morning she had woken to an empty apartment. Both Happy and Natsu had apparently decided to abandon her in favor of the fair.
"I've been here finishing up the fire games! Are you gonna play?"
The eager grin made her want to say yes, but the title 'fire games' sounded a bit daunting. "Um…what are these 'fire games' exactly?"
"Master Makarov gave me permission to do some stuff with my fire! I helped build the obstacle course! And then there's gonna be fireworks! All the fire mages are gonna help with that. Oh! And we're gonna have a food contest to see who can cook the best over a fire pit! And uh…"
Apparently Makarov had been keeping her dragon busier than she'd previously thought.
"That all sounds tons of fun Natsu! I'll do all that stuff if you come to the pageant show." she bargained with a grin, and he matched the smile with one of his own as he agreed with a nod.
"So what do you wanna do first today?" he asked as he easily fell into step beside her.
"Well…are you finished with whatever you were doing before?"
"Yeah! I just finished when you walked up."
"Oh cool. I was just on my way to see if I can find Happy. He wasn't at the apartment this morning either."
"I saw him over by the goldfish pond a little while ago. He said he was trying to catch just the right one to give to Carla."
"Awesome!"
So saying, they both headed off towards the little booth where Juvia was pouting over a pool of water. She obviously wanted to be off with Gray, but Lucy was happy to see that the water mage was doing what she said she would and was managing the goldfish pool today. Everyone was taking turns managing the various booths, so that they could also all take turns enjoying them.
Sure enough, there was Happy, with intense concentration as he hovered over the pool of water. In his paw he held the flimsy paper net that they were supposed to use to try and catch the fish. You had to pay for each of those little things, which would go towards paying for the festival. She'd given him an allowance for the fair and somehow suspected he'd probably end up spending it all here.
"Happy! How come you didn't wake me up this morning when you left? I was worried!" Lucy gently scolded as she approached.
The blue cat turned and gave her his best big-eyed stare – the one that always made her melt inside – as he said, "I tried…but you were so sound asleep I didn't want to disturb you. And I just had to get here before everyone else so I could snag this goldfish. See!" He pointed back into the pool at a single, pure white, beautiful goldfish. It was tiny and perfect, and Lucy was instantly proud of her cat for having such a good eye.
"That looks great Happy! I bet Carla will love it."
"Well she never seems to like the fish I give her, but this one is real pretty! So I figured she'd like it!"
"Do you think my darling Gray would like one?" Juvia suddenly gushed with hearts in her eyes.
Lucy hurried to stop her there. "Uh, no. I don't think a goldfish would survive being around Gray for too long…since he tends to freeze stuff."
With a pout, Juvia drooped.
"There's lots of other stuff he likes at these things though! And tomorrow is the pageant, so you'll have a chance to really show off for him!" Lucy quickly added, trying to cheer up her friend.
"You're right!"
Now that the water mage was happy again, and Happy was back to fishing, Natsu and Lucy wandered off. Lucy hadn't had breakfast yet, because she'd wanted to try some of the festival food instead. So she stopped by a booth manned by Mira and bought several crepes for herself and for Natsu, who wolfed his down in a matter of seconds. Lucy took a little more time to enjoy hers and picked out a comfortable spot to sit and watch the goings on.
The whole bottom floor of their guildhall had been transformed. All the chairs and tables had been stored … somewhere, leaving a huge space for all the indoor booths and games, such as the small goldfish pool. Outside were the bigger booths, smellier food booths, and all the bigger games. All the performances would be held on the stage indoors though, including the pageant.
"So what time is the obstacle course? Is it today?"
Natsu nodded eagerly. "Yep! It'll be held in about…two hours."
"Do I have to sign up for it?"
"Yeah. We should probably do that after you finish eating…slow poke."
"Hey! Just because I don't inhale my food like some people, doesn't mean I'm slow."
Natsu just laughed, and then laughed harder as she somehow managed to get whipped cream on her nose.
As soon as she was done, they headed back outside towards the obstacle course, and she quickly put her name down on the sign-up sheet that Natsu pointed out. It was posted to a wooden arch that she supposed must mark the entrance to the obstacle course, though all she could see of the challenge was a purple box that was nearly the size of the guildhall itself – which was obviously Freed's doing.
Curiously, she asked, "So who else helped with the obstacle course?"
"Uh…Ice Princess…Juvia…sparky what'shisface, Lassie something? … Wendy… Droy… Gajeel… Freed…." He listed off, and with every name, Lucy started getting more and more nervous.
She of course assumed that 'sparky what's-his-face' was in fact Laxus, though she was kind of interested to see how he would respond to being called Lassie. The amusing thought was almost enough to make up for the trepidation she was beginning to feel about this thing.
"So uh…are you going to participate too?"
"Well yeah! Of course! But everyone who put together the course goes last, and we only do the other areas, not our own. We each have to be like a life guard or something at our parts, to make sure nobody dies or anything."
"Oh…wonderful," she managed weakly with a small laugh.
Understandably, by the time the obstacle course was set to be revealed, Lucy was starting to regret her promise to participate. Natsu had disappeared a little while ago to get into position, so she was left standing in front of a purple wall with everyone else that was stupid enough to sign up for this thing … while the rest of their guild cheered them on from the other side. Apparently they had a great viewing point where they could see all the obstacles, but the contestants couldn't see anything thanks to Freed's purple barriers blocking everything off.
With a flourish, Master Makarov took his place on a floating pedestal over the whole thing and spoke into a lacrima so everyone could hear him. "Members of Fairy Tail! Welcome to the first big game of this year's Summertime Games Fair!" This was met with raucous cheers. "This year, it's a massive obstacle course! As all of you who were too chicken to enter yourselves can see, we've got lots of fun for your braver peers! All the rules for the various zones are on those pieces of paper on your seats, so you can keep track as they move along through their challenges!"
Lucy snickered at Makarov's not-so-subtle jab at their audience and felt a little better about herself for signing up.
Then he turned and addressed the contestants. "Alright! I've got all your names in a hat! I'll draw them randomly. Let's see who's going first shall we?"
Getting right to it, he read off the first name and Elfman stepped through the door into the first zone. Based on the commentary, he did pretty well, although it sounded really tough. It was all vague enough that none of the competitors had a clue what might be in store for them, but based off all the caterwauling, they were in for something pretty special.
The next person to go in, Evergreen, apparently got too cocky and bottomed out in the second challenge.
After a couple more people had gone – only one of which actually made it all the way through – it was finally Lucy's turn. With sweaty palms, she stepped through the archway and into the first challenge. Inside the walls of purple was an ice room. There was a piece of paper tacked to the wall, which she read first before stepping foot on the ice.
Based off the commentary, not reading the rules was risky at best.
"Looks like Lucy's smart." Makarov commented as she peered closely at the paper, and she sent a grin to him and the crowd, getting some encouraging cheers in response.
Turning back to the rules, she was glad she had read them. The piece of paper said, "Below this floor of ice is a pool of water. Try to get to the other side without falling in, or you will be disqualified and sent to the medical ward for hypothermia."
"Oh great…" she sighed, and eyeballed the slippery floor.
She could easily see some patches that were thin, but the rest of it was hard to tell. Under the ice she saw a flicker of blue and felt some relief to know that at least if she did fall in, Juvia would fish her out. That woman could handle just about any temperature as long as water could.
She eased one foot onto the ice and cringed when she heard a few little pops. Thinking fast, she slowly lowered herself to her belly and inched forwards on hands and feet, trying to spread out her weight. Taking her time to get to the other side, she slipped and slid over the ice bit by bit. Finally, she reached the thicker ice on the other side and gingerly stood, only to leap to safety as it cracked. Thankfully, she reached the doorway without falling in, and took a moment to catch her breath.
When she passed through the next doorway, she paused and stared with what she knew was an unenthusiastic expression.
Yet again, the floor was made of ice, but this time it seemed like she would simply be trying to maneuver over the slippery substance, which was set at every possible angle. For instance, the first problem she encountered was a steep slide …. going up. There were no handholds, it was just slick ice that she apparently needed to scale.
She had a couple of options here. She could summon Sagittarius and have him shoot arrows into the ice that she could climb up, or she could summon Cancer and ask him to cut some holes for her hands and feet. Deciding to go with option one, she summoned her centaur spirit.
"Howdy do my lady! I am at your service!" the polite centaur announced with a salute as he popped into being.
"Hello Sagittarius." she greeted with a warm smile, and then turned to the icy obstacle in front of her and pointed at it. "Would you please shoot some arrows that I can use to climb up this thing?"
"Of course Lady Lucy! Right away!" So saying, he turned and drew his bow. In short order, a row of neat arrows was laid, staggered so they would be easy to climb up.
"Thanks Sagittarius! You're the best!"
"Always happy to help!" With a puff of clean air and golden sparkles he disappeared, and she didn't hesitate to scale the freezing wall in front of her. At the top, she met a somewhat put-out Gray.
"Cheater." he scoffed.
"How was that cheating? Nobody said we couldn't use magic, you know."
"Whatever. Have fun with the other side."
Looking past him, she saw that she did indeed have a somewhat daunting challenge in front of her. Not only was there a steep ice slide back downwards, but there was sort of a flip up at the end that would undoubtedly send her airborne. The hard ice floor didn't look like it would provide much of a cushion.
"Are you trying to give someone a concussion?"
"If it looks like you're fallin' in a bad way, I'll switch up the slide. Don't worry so hard." he drawled, rolling his eyes at her.
She just rolled her eyes right back at him. Sitting her butt down on the edge, she judged the angle of the slide to see if she would be able to make it. A frozen tree near one side caught her eye, and a grin snuck across her lips. It seemed doable, so she pushed off, and let loose a little scream as she shot down the slick slide. It was faster than she'd expected, but she still managed to yank her whip free and snag a frozen branch to swing herself free of the treacherous end. She landed to a round of cheers from the audience and a bark of laughter from Gray.
She turned to salute Gray, who waved her off with a grudgingly halfway impressed sort of gesture.
Sauntering out of that zone, she entered a new area that instantly had all her hair standing on end…. literally. The static electricity in here could be cut with a knife. A series of shifting metal rods filled the room with what looked like a jungle gym gone wrong. The crackles of lightning that zipped across the metal told Lucy that she did not want to touch them.
When she glanced at the rules tacked to the wall, all they had to say was the obvious. "If you touch any metal in this room, you will be roasted instantly. Good luck."
Up on the walls were both Laxus and Gajeel – the later of the two having something of an evil smirk on his mouth. He was obviously in charge of moving the bars around, while Laxus was undoubtedly there to provide the lightning. Hopefully he would also draw it off if she got zapped.
"So uh…how do I not die in here exactly?" she called up to the two of them.
Gajeel just laughed, but Laxus shrugged and answered with, "If you touch one it'll zap you. If that happens, I'll neutralize all the other charges so you don't get blasted into another row of electrical bars and get zapped again. No promises though, sometimes you get thrown faster than I can discharge."
She cringed. "Anyone died so far?"
"No…I think Jet was still breathing when he was carted outta there." Gajeel answered, giving one of his funky laughs that sounded like, "gee hee."
"Oh, that's sooo comforting." Lucy grumbled, and slowly inched into the room. Almost instantly, a metal bar slammed upwards vertically next to her, and she jumped a little in surprise before sending Gajeel a nasty look.
After that, she paid more attention to the holes in the floors and walls where the bars would come from. As long as she avoided stepping on any of them, or being in the way of them, she should be fine. It was pretty hard though, because they were unpredictable.
More than once she was sent into an abrupt crouch to dodge one that almost smacked her upside the head. They were going slowly enough for her to avoid them, but the situation still sent her into some pretty special contortions as she tried to avoid all the other bars around her.
At one point she had to cross over a bar laid horizontally in front of her at about waist height, and there was absolutely no way around it. Gingerly she swung one leg over, careful not to make any contact. While she was straddling the thing, another bar slid out above her, and she had to bend down to avoid touching it as well, leaving her in an awkward position – standing bent at the waist almost horizontally, with her breasts hanging just a hair away from the bar under her.
She began to panic as she tried to figure out how to get out of it, and at that point Leo popped into being without her summoning him.
"Hey there Lucy, it felt like you could use some…uh…what's going on?"
"Obstacle course. Summertime Games Fair. These things are conducting electricity." Lucy gritted through her teeth, her stomach spasming from having to hold her up like this.
"…wow…" Leo whistled lowly and hurried to assist her in getting her leg over the bar without touching the one above or below her.
He disappeared and reappeared on the correct side before grabbing her knee. He offered his other hand, and she took it to help steady herself. She gripped his hand probably tighter than absolutely necessary as he slowly helped her raise her leg, and she gingerly shifted her weight to the opposite foot. It gave him an excuse to grope her a little, but for once she didn't bother to complain – even when his palm slid a little higher than necessary on her thigh as he maneuvered her leg around over the bar. She was too happy to get out of that position.
After she was safely on the other side, he popped out of existence with a little bow and a smug grin, which probably came from getting away with touching so much of her without being scolded.
She managed to maneuver herself through the rest of it without help and without getting zapped, but by the end of it she was out of breath and suffering from more than one muscle cramp.
The next zone was Droy's and involved sneaking past some carnivorous plants, which wasn't exactly fun to say the least. Her butt got close to becoming a chew toy a couple of times, but somehow she made it through without too much trouble.
Wendy's was also relatively easy. All she had to do was fight her way through some epic gusts of wind, dashing behind barriers whenever it got too bad, and then scooting forwards whenever the winds died down a little.
For Freed, she had to do her best to avoid the rune traps he had laid down. It was sheer luck that she managed to get through that area without getting stuck.
Finally, she reached Natsu's zone, and as soon as she entered the area it felt like she'd entered a furnace. It was blisteringly hot. The rules only said, "Don't catch on fire," which seemed blindingly obvious to her.
There were a series of obstacles made of fire that she could see right off the bat – the first being a floor made of hot stones, with little spouts of flame erupting from it every now and then.
Glancing up, she noticed Natsu sitting up on the wall, and he grinned broadly down at her. "You can do it Luce!"
"Thanks…" she muttered, not entirely sure she could, but willing to give it a shot anyways.
She gingerly tested the rocks, and instantly noticed how her shoes began to smoke a little. Taking a risk, she dashed forwards as fast as she could, leaping aside to avoid a spigot of flames, and made it to the other side. As soon as she reached safe ground, she kicked off her shoes. They caught fire after they had left her body, so it didn't count as an elimination, and she grinned happily that it had worked.
"Nice job!" Natsu commented from above, and she sent him a grin.
The next obstacle was a blazing fire pit that she had to jump over. Making it even more difficult, about every five seconds it would blaze up higher and then back down to a normal size. When she glanced up at Natsu, it looked like he was actually counting, and making the flames rise at a certain point. She was glad he wasn't being as unpredictable and impulsive as usual…it made it quite a bit easier to judge when she should jump.
When the flames lowered, she took a running leap and dove for the opposite side. She misjudged the timing just a little though, and right before she made it, the flames roared back up and caught her leg. Thankfully there was no fabric there to catch fire, otherwise she would have been in deep trouble. Still, she expected her skin to burn, but strangely … the flames didn't hurt.
As she landed in a roll on the other side, she quickly checked her leg, and though it was a little pink, it was unhurt.
Shrugging it off, she went to the next challenge. It was a version of fiery limbo, with a burning pole placed pretty low to the ground. You had a choice of either trying to jump over it – although it seemed just a little too high for her to attempt that – or else crawl under. Lucy opted for option number two and scooted under it. After the fact, she realized she probably should have gone for face up – but miraculously her hair didn't catch on fire, so it all worked out in the end.
By the time she had exited the last challenge, she was covered from head to toe in sweat, but she was unburned.
…
Everyone who had completed the obstacle course got a small cash prize, so she collected that and then parked herself next to Levy in the bleachers. Together, they watched the rest of the competitors finish. They cheered everyone on, though of course Lucy cheered especially hard for Natsu when his turn came. He did extremely well in all the zones, aside from one. In the first room he very nearly sent himself into the icy water with his body heat, but he was able to sneak past with his wings. When it came to the ice obstacle course though, he did perfectly fine and just melted everything in his way, nearly starting a fight with Gray in the process. He also completely destroyed Droy's challenge and all the plants ended up very much charred by the end of it. When it came to the lightning and metal room…once again he just melted his way through – managing to simultaneously piss off both Laxus and Gajeel as well.
He was the last to go through, so after that everyone started to disperse. Of course, it was lucky that he was last…since there was no longer an obstacle course to go through.
When he finished getting his cash prize, Natsu bounded over to Lucy and immediately asked, "You okay? Did you get burned too bad?"
She blinked at him bemusedly and then indulged in a little teasing. "No. Not at all in fact. You must have used some pretty weak fire, Natsu."
"Uh…no…" Natsu replied.
"Huh… No kidding? Well, I guess it just didn't touch me then."
As she turned to walk away, she heard him mutter, "Sure looked like it did…" but she didn't bother to respond. It didn't seem important. At the moment, she was much more interested in getting something cold to drink.
She made a beeline straight for the bar, where Mirajane was mixing drinks.
"Hey Lucy! Great job completing the obstacle course!" the white-haired mage said with a happy smile as Lucy eased onto a stool. Then Mira turned to her pink haired companion. "And great job constructing those fire obstacles Natsu! I was really impressed!"
He just grinned and puffed up like a proud rooster.
"Here, have some water you two. Is there anything else I can get you?" she asked as she slid the tall, ice cold waters across the bar towards them. Lucy chugged down about half of her glass before answering.
"Actually, I think I'll have one of your strawberry margaritas, Mira. I could use a little alcohol to calm my nerves after that."
She chuckled and set about making the frozen pink drink as Lucy finished gulping down her water
The next order of business was to check in on Happy, who was still persuing that one perfect fish with dogged determination.
…
The next day, Lucy had the pageant to look forward to. She had been planning so hard for this, because the cash prize was pretty significant and would help with her rent and feeding Natsu's bottomless stomach. Plus, dressing up and looking pretty was never a hardship for her. She enjoyed getting dolled up, and the idea of having Natsu there to admire her only made it more appealing. Just because she had determined that she wasn't going to pursue the sparks of attraction that she'd been feeling for her partner didn't mean she wasn't looking forward to dressing up for him. Of course he probably wouldn't pay a lick of attention, but still…. a girl could dream right?
Upon her arrival at the guild hall, she immediately proceeded to the dressing room, where she hung up her outfits on the rack provided. She wasn't the first to arrive, Erza and Juvia were both there already, and soon Cana appeared. The dressing room slowly filled with giggling girls. Levy and even Wendy had signed up for the pageant as well – though their newest member had probably been pressured into it by someone. She seemed a little more nervous than giggly.
The category for the first round was casual wear, while the second was costumes, third was swimsuits, and fourth was formal. It would probably take up a good portion of the day, and Lucy couldn't help but wonder how many of the events Natsu would actually show up for. Probably one. Which was a shame, because the first was probably the least impressive.
While she waited for her chance at the mirror, she worked on getting into her first outfit. For her cute casual outfit, Lucy had chosen to go with a warm fuzzy theme – figuring that since it was summer, few of the other girls would go for sweaters. First to go on were the short white shorts, then up top she threw on a white tank top and a light pink off-the-shoulder sweater. It fit perfectly in all the right places while still seeming loose and comfortable. The finishing touches to her outfit were a pair of pink thigh high socks with fuzzy white tops and a pair of blond fuzzy boots.
After dressing, she went to the full-length mirror to critically analyze her chosen outfit. It was perfect. She looked casual and comfortable – which was of course a carefully crafted look on her part that came largely from her off the-shoulder-sweater and too-long sleeves. The fuzziness of everything and the pastel palette added a cute factor, while the thigh highs, exposed shoulders, and short shorts added sex appeal.
Over all, she deemed it a success.
Each of them had their allotted times at the mirrors to do makeup and hair, and so Lucy wasted no time in summoning Cancer as soon as she sat down at hers. While he carefully coiffed her hair into a pair of low curly pigtails, she worked on her makeup. Using soft pink blush and light pink lipstick, she enhanced the sweet innocent look she was going for.
Soon, it was time for the first round of the competition, and she waited on the sidelines and watched the other girls all take their turn.
Levy was shy, but nailed the cute sexy bookworm look with a plaid miniskirt, stockings, suspenders, and a background that looked like a library. Everyone 'oohed' and 'aahed' at Erza of course, who absolutely killed it with the cutest lacy lime green and white sundress, complete with a large white hat and sandals. It looked both comfortable and sexy with a lowcut neckline and really matched her chosen magical background of a beachy sun garden. Juvia really surprised her with a navy blue and white sailor dress, which she accessorized perfectly with a pair of white lace up boots and white lacy fingerless gloves. It was a different sort of look from anything Lucy had ever seen her wear before, but it was absolutely gorgeous on her, and she pulled it off perfectly with her perky personality and sailing boat background.
Finally, it was Lucy's turn.
As her name was called to introduce her to the crowd, she skipped out onto the stage with a big grin. Everyone cheered for her, and she got a few cat calls as she struck some cute poses – like clasping her fingers together in front of her as she hunched up her shoulders in a practiced adorable shrug. She pranced around a little in front of her living room and fireplace background, pausing to pose every now and then – each one growing a little sillier as she couldn't help but be amused by the whole thing and giggled her way through it all. The final bit was when Happy flew into her arms – as she'd asked – and she hugged him close to a chorus of coos. The addition of a cute kitty like him synched the deal, and more than one shutter went off to take their picture.
Once her time was up, Happy hopped onto her shoulder as she bent a little and blew some kisses to the crowd, and then she turned around and skipping back off the stage.
As soon as everyone was done, there was an hour break for the contestants to go and get something to eat, so she left the stage area and headed towards a nearby carnival food booth where she planned to get a big hot pretzel and some cotton candy. Right around the time she had finished the pretzel, Natsu found her.
"Hey Luce!"
"Oh, hey Natsu!" she said through a mouthful of cotton candy.
"You looked pretty good up there." he said with a grin, and she pouted a little at the underwhelming complement. But still, it was rare to get any sort of complement out of Natsu, so she supposed it counted for more when it came from him.
"Thanks."
As they walked together towards the fishing pond – where Happy had already relocated to – Lucy jumped a little when Natsu reached out and lightly tugged at her sleeve.
"Wow. This really is soft."
"Huh?"
"Oh, I uh, just thought it looked soft, so I wanted to check." he answered, and then ducked his head down in a way that seemed almost embarrassed, and the lower part of his face disappeared into his scarf.
She'd never quite seen him act that way, and the slight red cast to his ears made her wonder if he was blushing. His tail – which he generally wore loose in the guildhall – started fidgeting in a way that she'd noted before meant he was uncomfortable. It was all a little odd, but she just sort of shrugged it off.
As for Natsu, he had no idea why his face felt hot or why his gut clenched in such an uncomfortable way, but he didn't like it.
…
After her break, which was spent hanging out with Natsu and pestering Happy, she headed back to the changing rooms.
The next competition was the costume pageant, and after much consideration she had discovered inspiration in Natsu's outfit of all crazy places. It reminded her a little of Ali Baba's outfit from one of her favorite picture books as a kid, and she decided to dress up in that sort of style. However, no matter where she looked, she could not find any outfit that screamed, 'Arabian nights.' So, she had summoned Virgo, since that particular spirit had given her clothes before. Sure enough, Virgo had popped back to the celestial realm, only to reappear a moment later with a gorgeous garment in her arms.
It was perfect.
Dressing herself in it involved a bit of trial and error though.
The bright red, billowy pants went on easily enough. However, she quickly realized that she'd forgotten something when her panties showed through the somewhat sheer material, so she had to take the pants off again and search for the matching bikini bottoms that went under them. Once she finally located them in the mass amount of garments that this one outfit contained, she finally got everything put on in the correct order. The bottom of the pants gathered with a drawstring, so she made sure to tie that off before anything else, because with her luck she would be sure to trip on the string.
Around her hips went a thick golden belt, from which dangled a series of shimmering gold scarves. In both the front and back were short scarves that draped from one hip to the other, and then under those were long scarves that dangled down between her legs like a loincloth. It made for a gorgeous skirt of scarves that would twirl and swirl around her when she spun. And making it even more danceable, a short line of small bells hung from her belt between each scarf – not so long that they would get tangled, but long enough that they would chime as she swung her hips to walk or dance.
The next article of clothing to go on was her top, which was sort of a bustier type of affair that looked like a bikini, only oodles more fancy of course. From the bottom of the bustier hung a golden fringe composed of tiny bells that had been strung together in almost a lace-like pattern. They were just like the ones at her hips, but even smaller and more delicate – so every time she moved it was to a chorus of tinkling. The bustier itself was the same red as her bottoms and was detailed with spirals of glittering gold embroidered flames. It was in a halter style, and at the back of her neck more scarves attached that draped down her back and then swooped back up to attach to golden bracelets on her wrists. Those scarves were red and gold, two of each for each hand, and they ended up looking like dancing flames if she spun … or maybe wings.
Her bracelets also had golden bells, and she had a matched set of anklets, and even bell earrings.
When she finally looked in the mirror to do her makeup and have Cancer put her hair up into a super high ponytail, she couldn't decide if she looked like a princess or like a belly dancer. The golden circlet that wrapped around her ponytail like a very fancy scrunchy helped some. From the circlet draped loops of thin golden chains that crowned her whole head in a glittering mesh of gold, and measured at even intervals were red crystal drops, the largest of which dropped to land right in the middle of her forehead.
Her makeup was made easy in a way, because a sheer red veil covered the bottom half of her face, but for her eyes she lined them thickly in black and put on some gold eyeshadow.
When she was all put together, her crab friend gave a low whistle. "Wow Baby… you look smokin."
"Thanks Cancer!" she said with a bright smile, masked partially by her veil of course.
Once she was all put together, it was time to wait on the sidelines once again. It would be a longer wait this time, because there was also a performance aspect to the costume part of the pageant.
The first out onto the stage was Erza, in a super adorable and sexy goth lolita outfit. Naturally, her performance involved knife throwing, which somehow worked really well with the ruffly black and white outfit, though one might not think that it would. She had asked if she could borrow Happy and Carla for her performance, and both had agreed somewhat hesitantly, but thankfully all they had to do was drop apples over the audience. Without fail, every apple was speared midair with a knife and then fell to be grabbed up by someone. Not everyone in the crowd was from Fairy Tail, so Lucy had to assume that some of Erza's fans were out there probably loving the chance to get a souvenir. It was definitely a smart move.
As for Juvia, she went out there in a really gorgeous mermaid outfit and performed a water dance with her element. It was slightly predictable, but Lucy had to admit that it was absolutely beautiful and super graceful. In fact, it kind of made her nervous about what she had planned for her performance, because she also intended to do a dance. Hopefully she wouldn't look too gawky when compared to her blue-haired friend, who was smooth as silk and just a graceful as the spirals of water she crafted and wove around herself.
Levy chose a sexy mechanic costume that looked a little steam punk and grungy with gears and such. It worked really well for her, especially when paired with her solid script magic performance that focused on words like "iron" and "screw" although Lucy couldn't help but laugh at the – probably unintentional – double entendre. It definitely had her glancing out into the crowd to see Gajeel's reaction, who she had noticed seemed to take special interest in the little blue-haired mage. Sure enough, a subtle smirk was etched across his lips, and she could practically read his thoughts – which were likely less than clean. She hadn't entirely decided yet whether she approved of his attention towards one of her dearest friends, but she was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt – especially considering his recent cat exploits.
And then it was Lucy's turn.
This time around, she was much more nervous, embarrassed, and jittery at the thought of walking out on stage, because this sort of outfit was so far away from what she would normally wear. Not to mention, she had to worry about performing too. Still, she'd had almost a month to plan, take dancing lessons, and practice her routine, so she was fairly confident that she could at least manage it without falling on her face.
So, with a deep breath, she did her best to saunter out onto the stage when her name was called, being sure to put in just a little extra hip action to make her bells really chime for her. She was greeted with a chorus of wolf whistles and cat calls, but she mostly ignored them – because if she didn't, she might just chicken out. There was a brief pause as her music selection was put on over the speakers, and Lucy took those few seconds to take a deep breath and remind herself of the steps she would soon be performing.
As the sound of drums first started up – soon to be joined by flutes and other such instruments – Lucy took one last deep breath, and then stepped forwards, lifting her heels and bending her knees just a little to control the movements of her hips as she'd been taught. Periodically she switched between the balls of her feet and her heels for a different step as she sashayed to one side and then the other, twirling the hand up on her leading side. Then, when she spun in a circle, she would let both hands raise – which brought the scarves up and swirling around her as she spun. There was a lot of graceful rippling motion as well in her upper body, which was one of the harder parts.
It was a very pretty dance, and she thought she had managed to perform it well enough, based off the applause and cheers once she was done, but she was more than happy to escape the stage. Her heart was hammering inside her chest faster than she had expected. Actually performing on stage was a lot scarier than she'd thought it would be … just going out there and looking pretty was so much easier.
As for Natsu, he thought she did great.
In fact, he thought a lot more than just that, and felt even more than he thought – most of which didn't really compute or make sense to him.
She looked like living fire – if fire was going to take the shape of a girl – and he'd never thought he would think fire was sexy. Fire was hot sure, but not that way. Lucy though had managed to change his mind on that, and now he thought fire could easily be sexy, and beautiful, and graceful, and tasty…well, he'd always thought fire was tasty, but she put a whole different twist to that thought.
And her dance was mesmerizing, which was saying a lot coming from a dragon who personified attention problems. He couldn't take his eyes away from her as she spun and swayed, his eyes flicking from one set of bells to the other and then tracing over the curves of her scarves to the curves of her body.
It was enough to put Natsu into a semi-permanent state of confusion. For someone like him, who had never been attracted to anything – ever – this sort of feeling was entirely new, and he didn't even consciously know what it was. All he knew was that he felt hot and itchy and kind of sweaty, and his heart was beating a little too fast…. And if his tail didn't stop spastically twitching, he was going to tie it in a knot. It was all strange and uncomfortable, and he wasn't sure whether to thank Lucy or be pissed at her for it.
So, in true Natsu fashion, he did what he always did when something was too confusing for him to deal with…he simply blew it off as weird and forgot about it – although he couldn't quite entirely forget about it this time.
Seeing her in a pink polka dot bikini half an hour later didn't help very much either.
As for Lucy, she was glad when the whole thing was finally over. It was exciting to do for a while, but after changing outfits four times – even with a small break between the bikinis and formal dresses – she was getting just a little tired of it.
So it was with some relief that she slid into her final outfit. She'd gone with a floor length sleeveless gown made out of sky blue slinky material that clung to her in all the right places. On one side of the skirt a long slit crawled all the way up her thigh, while on her opposite hip a cascade of ruffles spilled down. Cancer put her hair up in a fancy bun with a few curls spiraling down here and there, and she put on her makeup.
This time they all filed out onto the stage together and then lined up with enough space between each other that their individual outfits could be clearly seen. One by one they were called to the front of the stage to answer a couple of questions from the master, and then fell back into place in the line-up. Some of the questions were a little silly, others were normal, and some were downright inappropriate.
He asked Wendy – who was wearing an adorable white ruffly dress with a red sash – how she was enjoying being part of Fairy Tail, to which she responded with, "Very much! I love it here!" Everyone whooped and cheered. They whooped for Juvia too, but for a different reason.
She was also asked how she was enjoying being part of Fairy Tail, and she answered in second person – which meant she was a little nervous. "Juvia is very happy here. Happier than she's ever been before."
"Wonderful! And what is your ultimate goal at the moment?"
"Juvia only wants to stay by Gray's side. And maybe…go on a date?" She started without any hesitation whatsoever, but ended on a blush.
That got a bunch of catcalls of course, and Lucy could see Gray in the crowd making a pretty terrible attempt at disappearing…especially when various Fairy Tail fans started snapping pictures of his response. She highly suspected this would end up in the gossip column of Sorcerer Weekly.
When it was Lucy's turn, she was first asked what her current goal was.
Her response consisted of, "Right now I just want to pay rent and keep Natsu's bottomless stomach full."
That was met with a round of boisterous laughter from the guild. Master also laughed and got a devilish twinkle in his eyes that suggested his next question was not going to be as tame.
"Speaking of Natsu, are there any plans between you two yet? Should we be expecting little blond and pink-haired babies anytime soon?"
Lucy was pretty sure she turned a hundred different shades of red, much to the amusement of the crowd – who all catcalled and whooped.
"Master! That's inappropriate! And no of course not! You know we're just partners!" she complained, though the flutter in her belly said something else – which was a little disturbing.
After that, she couldn't quite find it in herself to look out into the crowd and risk meeting Natsu's eyes as she made her way back to the line. So she spent the rest of the interviews either staring out over the heads of their audience or keeping her eyes on her fellow pageanters.
Once everyone had their chance in the limelight, it was time for the audience to vote on who they wanted to win, and everyone was given a single piece of paper to write their favorite contestant's name on. Then a collection box was passed around, and Makarov tallied up the final scores. A magical score board kept track of each name he read out loud, giving the corresponding girl one point for each time her name was read.
The race was pretty close, but in the end Erza won…which wasn't particularly surprising since she was undoubtedly the most popular girl up there. Lucy was still disappointed about losing, but she tried not to let it get her down. After all, she did get second place and a conciliatory prize, so it wasn't a total bust.
As she exited the stage, the first thing she was confronted with was Happy zooming up with a huge grin on his fuzzy face and a clear plastic baggy containing his prized fish clutched in his paws. Her disappointment faded in the face of his excitement, and she grinned widely as he almost ran right into her.
"Lucy! Lucy! Look! I finally caught Carla's fish!"
"Congratulations Happy! I'm sure she'll love it."
He beamed and without another word flew off at top speed, undoubtedly to look for his white-furred paramour.
Then her attention was pulled elsewhere as a hot arm was thrown over her shoulders. She staggered a little under the weight as Natsu leaned into her and gave her a sideways bear hug.
"Ya did great Luce! Now how about we go get something ta eat?! I'm starving!"
Before she had even given her consent – or protest that she wanted to change back into her normal clothes – Natsu was dragging her off towards the nearest booth. When he accidentally glued his teeth together with an enormous amount of cotton candy that he'd apparently attempted to cook in his mouth, she deemed it as appropriate karma and split off to change. By the time she returned in her normal clothing, he had unstuck his teeth and was busy trying out some other food that wouldn't melt. They spent the next few hours visiting and revisiting his favorite booths from yesterday and new ones for today.
Then there were a series of games that Natsu participated in while Lucy cheered him on from the sidelines. She was way too full and knew herself well enough to know that she'd get a stomach ache if she tried any of the ridiculous stuff he was currently doing – a theme which continued on throughout the rest of the fair.
The next couple of days were full of drinking and eating and fun … and Lucy yelling at Natsu for spilling foodstuffs on her.
There were plenty of events for them to participate in during the remainder of the fair. Natsu of course entered every physical contest, even dragging Lucy into more than one…like the sack race. That one had ended rather badly, with Natsu accidentally setting their sack on fire midway through the race – which had freaked Lucy out of course. Somehow she avoided getting burned to a crisp, although how that was she had no idea. The arm wrestling hadn't turned out much better – many tables had been broken, burned, frozen, and shattered during that particular contest … and it wasn't even all Natsu's fault.
Like Natsu's tendency towards the destructive, other predictable things came to pass as well.
After Carla grudgingly accepted Happy's fish, he ecstatically proceeded to follow her around for the rest of the fair. Juvia plastered herself to Gray – as usual – and followed him everywhere he went. Erza ate lots of pastries, particularly cake. Cana and Master Makarov had a drinking contest. Mira attempted to matchmake Lucy with Natsu and every other available bachelor in the vicinity. Natsu and Gray got into more fights than Lucy could count. Erza stopped them by clonking their heads together.
….. And then predictable went out the window when Gajeel had a concert.
Up till then, none of them had known he was musically inclined. If Lucy had been told, she would have assumed he would be into hard rock…judging by his piercings, clothes, and wild mane of hair. However, as it turned out, he was "Mr. Shoo-Bee-Doo-Ba" – as Master Makarov titled him – and had sort of a jazzy style that Lucy wasn't sure what to make of. In fact, none of them were quite sure what to make of it.
Even stranger, somehow he managed to recruit both Lucy and Levy as backup dancers, and they found themselves dressed in leotards, fishnet stockings, high heels, and bunny tails and ears. How that had happened, Lucy still wasn't sure … nor was she particularly happy about it.
Levy was even less happy about it though, and after just one song, she ended up dashing off the stage with a bright red face.
"Oi! Shrimp! Where ya going?! Get back here!" Gajeel bellowed, sounding totally at odds with his dulcet tones from before.
Lucy was left confused and unsure about what to do as the iron dragon slayer bounded off the stage too, yelling back at her, "You stay there, Bunny Girl! I'll go get Shrimp!"
She scowled. "Don't call me Bunny Girl! I didn't choose this outfit!"
There was no way she was going to hang out by herself on stage, especially not in such an embarrassing get-up, so she completely ignored his demand and left.
The festival continued from there, with many more hijinks and chaos – in typical Fairy Tail style. By the time it was over, the guildhall was an absolute mess, and it took at least a whole week to put everything back the way it was.
Partially that was due to some strange events that occurred after the fair had concluded.
The day after the Summertime Games Fair had finished, Natsu and Lucy had been on their way to ask Makarov what they could clean, repair, or put away next when they ran into Juvia, who was stalking Gray from the shadows of a pillar.
"Oh…hey Juvia. What are you doing back here?" Lucy asked, curious about the somewhat odd behavior. Her blue-haired friend hadn't stalked Gray from the shadows like this in a while – because she did it openly now.
Juvia jumped in a guilty sort of way before quickly spinning around, and Lucy was shocked to see that she was tearing up a little. At the sight of tears on her friend's face, she instantly sent Natsu on without her to report for both of them while she stayed behind to talk to Juvia.
"Hey…What's wrong? Why are you crying?"
"Oh…Lucy…it's you." she said, rubbing her eyes.
Upon closer inspection, it was clear that Juvia wasn't just tearing up, but was also absolutely furious. Her eyes burned, and not just because they were blood-shot.
"Um. So what happened?"
All she got in response was Juvia whirling back around and glaring out into the guildhall … not at Gray, but at a pretty girl who was talking to Gray. Lucy had never seen the girl before, but – based off the pad and pen she was holding – she was probably a reporter for one of the magic magazines. She was likely writing a follow-up story on the fair.
"A rival has appeared…" Juvia practically snarled, and if looks could kill, that girl would be dead several times over by now.
"She's probably just a reporter interviewing him for an article…I doubt she's-"
"Juvia knows what she's talking about! That girl is trying to steal Darling Gray!"
Lucy blinked, noting that Juvia had used impersonal pronouns to identify herself…which was a dead giveaway that Juvia was uncomfortable – though in this case, she seemed to be going a bit past discomfort and into the land of crazy.
"Uh…"
"Just look at her! The way she's smiling at him, the way she's touching him!"
Lucy looked again a little harder and this time payed special attention to the girl's body language. Sure enough, there was a certain amount of flirtation going on. It was subtle, but it was definitely there, and unfortunately the girl was really pretty. Lucy winced when she lightly touched Gray's arm and laughed at something he said… and then winced even harder when Juvia let out a snarl like an animal next to her.
Probably even worse, Gray didn't seem opposed to the attention. Though, it was impossible for Lucy to tell if he was actually interested in the reporter, or if he just thought she was funny as he chuckled and offered her a small smile. It definitely pissed off poor Juvia though, because another terrifying sound came from her.
"I'm sure it'll be fine…she's not going to stay too long. As soon as she's done with her story, she'll go on about her business."
Juvia didn't seem to hear her, and after a moment, Lucy decided that it was pointless to talk to her right now. So, she headed off to find Natsu and Happy.
The next day, she wondered if she shouldn't have tried harder.
It started out normally, Natsu, Lucy, and Happy all arrived bright and early, ready to report for cleanup duty again. She headed to get an assignment from Mira, who was in charge today, and Happy accompanied her so he could get a fish from the bar. Meanwhile, Natsu ran off to pick a fight with Gray – and just as Lucy had predicted, the girl from yesterday was gone and he was alone.
Nothing seemed amiss, up until a sudden commotion drew Lucy's attention. Normally, she wouldn't pay any attention to it since hubbubs happened all the time, but this one sounded different somehow.
When she turned to look, her eyes landed on something that made her jaw drop open in shock. Evergreen was currently latched onto Elfman, hugging his arm and pressing it between her boobs. It was common knowledge that she had a crush on him, but she had never expressed it in any way aside from ragging on him and subtly being in his proximity. Now though, she pouted up at him as he stared down at her in shock and more than a little bit of fear.
"Elfman…why not be a real man and ask me on a date already?"
There was silence as everyone watched the drama. Then, another hullabaloo erupted from a completely different part of the hall. Erza suddenly collapsed, clutching her chest. Everyone around her hurried to her side, and even Lucy – who was across the hall – ran over to check on her friend. Most people forgot about Elfman and his strange predicament, and instead focused on Erza, who seemed to be in a great deal of pain.
Lucy couldn't see what was going on through the small crowd that had surrounded the redhead, but it sounded like she wasn't appreciative of the attention.
"Just…just go away and let me be…"
Most people backed off, but a few stuck around, which was less than smart on their part. Wendy was one of these, as she hovered anxiously.
"You look like you're in pain…let me -"
"I said leave me alone!" Erza yelled and suddenly stood and ran out of the hall, knocking poor Wendy over.
Everyone stared after her in shock. Tears had been running down her face as she dashed out of the guildhall, and she literally tore the door off its hinges in her haste to escape. With a creak, the whopper-jawed door hung for a few seconds, before the single twisted hinge still holding it gave up and the whole thing plopped to the ground with a bang.
"What the…?" Lucy muttered to herself.
Suddenly a shriek resonated through the hall and everyone swung around to peer at Carla, who was screaming at Happy. "Just go away you stupid tomcat!"
She appeared amazingly upset – angry, confused, and conflicted – and she also flew out of the hall in a fit of tears, leaving everyone staring after her in shock. Confused, Happy watched her leave with the saddest look on his face, prompting Lucy to hurry over to him. She scooped him up in a hug, and he started crying into her shirt.
"Wh-what did I do?"
"I don't know, but with everyone acting weird, I don't think it has anything to do with you Happy. I think something else is going on."
"You think so? So she doesn't really hate me?"
"No. She just looked really confused, like she was struggling with something personal. I don't think she hates you."
At that point, they were interrupted by Cana bursting into tears as well. Everyone turned to look at her as she gulped down her wine and sobbed loudly for no apparent reason.
Before anyone could go and try to help her, a vicious fight broke out between Jet and Droy – which wasn't entirely uncommon since they often squabbled over Levy. This time was different though. It apparently started when Droy suddenly pounced on Levy, grabbing her in a way that he normally would never do, and Jet had been forced to rip him off her. Lucy caught the tail end of that, and then watched with wide shocked eyes as Droy proceeded to go after Jet in a fit of what looked like jealous rage. He was so insensible that he very nearly took out Levy too, and Gajeel waded in to scoop her up by her collar and removed her from the situation.
Then, the sound and shocking light of a strike of lightning had everyone spinning around once again to look at Laxus. A rather fried looking Freed was sitting in his lap.
"L-Laxus…but…" Freed blubbered, looking like he was going to cry.
"I told you I'd blast you if you didn't get off me."
Slithering off his lap, Freed got on his knees in front of the lightning dragon slayer and groveled. "My apologies…I'm so sorry…please forgive me!"
He'd always been really flamboyant about his devotion to Laxus, and Lucy had even played with the idea that he was gay and liked his team leader as more than a friend…but this was a bit over the top.
Laxus was unamused. "Get up, you idiot. What's gotten into you?"
The poor guy just dissolved into more tears, and with an exceptionally aggravated sigh, Laxus groaned, "Jesus…" and stood. He picked up Freed by his collar – much like Gajeel had just done to Levy – and dragged him out of the guildhall.
Once again, the whole guild was left staring blankly at the doors, wondering what the hell was going on.
Of course Natsu was the first to say it. "What the hell is going on h-Ahchk!"
The end of his sentence was some sort of weird choking noise, and Lucy whipped around to see him having a coughing fit.
"Natsu! Are you okay?" she asked as she ran over to check on him.
Happy hopped out of her arms and flew along next to her.
"Yeah, just…what the fuck…?" he groaned and staggered a slight moment. Then abruptly his head snapped up and his eyes landed on her.
The look on his face was extremely odd. His eyes were blown wide, his pupils fully dilated to make his eyes even blacker than normal. He stared at her with slightly parted lips, and she could hear how his breathing picked up. His nose flared, and then suddenly he jerked back, squeezed his eyes closed, and shook his head. It was so strange that she completely ignored the sounds of all the other mayhem surrounding her and entirely focused on Natsu.
"What the fuck…?" he repeated on a groan and staggered back a step or two. "Shit…"
"Um…are you okay?" Lucy asked, reaching out gingerly to touch his shoulder.
He flinched back hard and snapped, "Don't touch me!"
She gasped and jerked her hand back as his head flew up and he glared at her. Suddenly his pupils shrunk while his irises flashed gold and started to glow. A burst of heat came from him, making her take a step back. His horns lengthened and his tail thickened – which meant that when it thrashed, the long red appendage smacked the table next to it hard enough to send the sturdy piece of furniture flying.
"Wh-what the…?" Lucy took another step back, actually a little afraid.
With a growl, Natsu grabbed his head, shook it vigorously again, and then turned and jumped through a nearby window.
…
Leaving Lucy to wonder just what in the world was happening, Natsu ran as far away from her as he could. The strange feelings rushing through him made no sense and scared the spit out of him.
After choking, a rush of heat had filled his veins, and when he'd looked up to see Lucy right there, looking so damn cute and worried about him, he blew a gasket. The fire filling him felt a little like the itchy feelings that he'd experienced when watching her dance on stage, but they were so much worse and weirder.
It was almost like the rush of adrenaline he got before a fight, but he could hardly expend that energy the way he normally would – by pummeling his enemy. Something told him that punching Lucy would kill him, in more ways than one. Plus, he would never ever hurt her, not just because it was forbidden. She was his best friend, and the most precious person to him in the entire world, so like hell would he ever strike her.
Yet, he felt the desperate need to do something, anything, to vent this rampant strange energy burning him from the inside out – which was a problem, because it was all linked to HER. For the life of him, he didn't know how to expend that energy without potentially hurting her.
He wanted to pick her up and hug her tight and then swing her around in a circle…and maybe fly off with her somewhere. He wanted to grab her and never let go, claim her for himself and horde her away in a castle or a cave – like dragons of old with their precious treasures.
There was also an intense gut-wrenching desire to get as close as physically possible to her. He wanted to wrap every part of himself around her and then squeeze until there was nothing at all between them, or even get inside her somehow and lodge himself so deep it would be impossible to tell where he ended and she began. It was like his normal need to be around her had been magnified by about a million and then lit on fire.
The sensation was unlike anything he had ever experienced before, and it was so potent that it sort of made him wanna throw up. The safest thing for him at the moment was to put as much space between them as possible, because he had no idea what he might do if he stuck around for too much longer. While he would never intentionally hurt Lucy, with the way he was currently feeling, he might break her entirely by accident.
…
Back at the guildhall, Lucy worried about Natsu and wondered if she had done something wrong, but something told her that there was a greater force at work here.
Working on a hunch, she started hunting around, and sure enough she found Juvia in a corner, holding a potion bottle. As she watched, Juvia blew the bubbles that floated up out of it, obviously aiming them at Gray. This time they actually hit, and he choked, just like Natsu had.
As soon as he swallowed the bubbles, Juvia stepped out from behind the pillar she was hiding behind and walked towards him, stopping a little ways away with glittering moist eyes and flushed cheeks. She looked so hopeful that Lucy stayed back and didn't confront her.
As soon as Gray saw her, Lucy saw a muscle in his jaw twitch, and then his cheeks flushed. His eyes widened for a moment, and then with a sharp inhale he turned on his heel and rushed out the door.
"Gray! My Darling!" she called as she ran after him.
Predictably, no more strange incidents happened.
Thankfully, there were no lasting damages, and everything got straightened out. By the next morning everyone had gone back to normal. Natsu absolutely refused to tell her what had happened to him though, as did basically everyone who had been affected.
All Lucy could figure, was that whatever Juvia had been blowing, it hadn't been a love spell like the bluenette probably thought. It was more likely some sort of emotional enhancement potion that increased whatever your normal feelings were substantially. That would explain why Evergreen had gotten so forward … same with Freed and Droy. But Lucy couldn't even begin to try and decipher the rest, and decided it was best not to try.
Thankfully, after all that excitement, things went back to normal for Fairy Tail …. aside from Gajeel insisting on calling her "Bunny Girl" now, much to her irritation.
Sneak Peek
With a deep sucked-in breath, she snatched the offending piece of paper off the board and rushed over to her waiting team. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Happy notice her, and he flew over to join them as well.
"Guys! Juvia's been kidnapped!"
Four different variations of, "What?!" were thrown at her, but Gray's was undeniably the loudest and most perturbed of the lot.
She wasn't surprised. Despite avoiding Juvia, she had also noticed the long looks he sent in her direction when he thought she wasn't watching. It seemed that maybe her unreturned feelings were slowly being returned. That was probably why he had been avoiding her, because he was obviously uncomfortable with it all.
At this moment though, it also meant that Gray freaked out even more than everyone else. He grabbed Lucy's shoulders and urgently asked, "What the fuck you talkin' about Lucy!?"
"Here. Look at this! It was on the board, but as soon as I looked at it, the words shifted around and turned into this!"
Everyone peered down at the paper she was waving around. It read: "To those it may concern, we have captured Juvia Lockser. If you wish to ever see her again, meet us here." It finished with an address.