If you don't like it don't read it.
Therashae is on Ao3 now. I posted my Unholy Trinity there. It was so... Graphic that I'm not going to put it over here. Just as a troll and rule police precaution.
Hiro Mashima still owns Fairy Tail guys. Duh.
XxXxXxXxX
"Knock knock, babies! Let's blow the house down!" *knock knock, knock knock, who is it, it's Fairy Tail.
"We're under attack!"
"Tear em apart! Nobody messes with Hangman's Spirit and lives!"
"They wanna play tag! Let's play babies!" *play, play, tag, let's play.
XxXxXxXxX
"Fairy machine gun! Leprechaun!"
"Dome shield of accursed souls!"
"Gate of the maiden! Virgo! Tunnel underneath him and drag him out kicking and screaming!"
"Consider it done, Princess."
XxXxXxXxX
"Dark Ecriture. Pain!"
"Ha! Pain spells don't work on a chick with no nerves greenie!"
"Just because you're a crazy bitch that doesn't feel pain doesn't mean you don't fucking have nerves! In fact, let's light em up. Let's see you do jack shit with my lightning running through your body! Lock her up Freed. We're hunting the big meat."
"Yes, Laxus."
XxXxXxXxX
"Shit, shit, shit! Somebody with wings better catch me because I can't fucking fly!"
"I gotchya, Cosplayer."
"Thanks, Bix. I didn't wanna be a pancake today."
"You OK, Blondie?"
"All good! What about the guy that catapulted me?"
"He is quite incapacitated at this point, Miss Lucy."
"Incapacitated he says. After what Freed did to him he'll be lucky if he doesn't have to wear a bib and diapers for the rest of his life."
"Wow, Ever, that's... Gross. I really dislike freefalling. Maybe I should try to find a spirit with some type of flight ability."
"The fact that that ability would greatly benefit you is indubitable."
XxXxXxXxX
"I need a bath." Lucy was tired, filthy, and feeling extremely satisfied after a job well done. She had finished her first official recorded S-class job. She hadn't even been injured. Though there had been a couple close calls, not only for her, but for her teammates.
"We need more than a bath. We need a long spa day, and a massage."
"Exactly! You are so speaking my language, Ever. And with the reward from this job I can actually afford to do that!"
"It won't be a Boscan bath, but that does sound good." *good stuff, relaxing, strong fingers.
"I agree. A day of rest and pampering sounds delightful."
"I could go for a hot tub right now, but there won't be any...pampering." Laxus spit the word out like sour milk.
"In that case I suggest we locate adequate lodging for the evening, wash the present filth from our persons, partake of a light meal, and enjoy the local hot springs as a group. Those of us with more refined taste can then enjoy an evening of pampering, while Laxus drinks himself into a stupor." Lucy giggled at the look Laxus gave Freed.
"For the record I don't get stupified no matter how much I drink. And while you refined people get pampered I will be finding myself some company for the night. Losers."
"He means he's gunna find some babe to bang cross-eyed." *cross-eyed babe, sexy company. Evergreen's fan slapped Bickslow's arm, though with insufficient force to get a response from him. "And what makes you think I'll have a cold bed tonight, Boss? I'm just hoping to find a masseuse with strong hands to drag me back to his place tonight and g-"
"Stop! Please, for the love of the stars, Bix can we please not hear more of this?"
"If you would please consider Miss Lucy's request. Evergreen and I would also appreciate it."
"Oh, come on man. It's not like you w-"
"Consider what you are about to say very carefully, Bickslow Pradesh." There was a very clear threat in Freed's voice. Whatever he was threatening must have been extremely unpleasant because for once Bix and his babies kept silent.
"Umm..." Lucy cast about for a way to ease the tension. "So where should we meet to eat at?"
"Oh!" Ever waved her fan in the air. "I vote Boscan food! There's that one place in town we haven't been to in ages. What's it called..."
"Grass Tea. You and your rabbit food. Fine. They have real food there too so I guess it's OK."
"Yay! Lucy, you wanna room with me tonight?"
"Sure! I'd feel safer that way then rooming alone."
"Fuck. You guys are going to have to take turns showering and take for-fucking-ever."
"Stars sake, Laxus. Be happy about something. It's good for your heart."
"Don't have one." She tried to shove him. It didn't work because the man was a walking brick wall.
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"So, I have a question." Lucy was up to her chin in steaming water and loving it. "Was this dark guild kinda lame, or was it just me?"
"It was pretty much a run of the mill dark guild, Cosplayer. Wasn't one of the big fish, but it sure wasn't a guppy."
"Lucy, you have had extraordinary amounts of bad luck when it comes to enemies. Lyon on Galuna, Gajeel and the Phantom thing, Death's Head Caucus, the Oracion Seis not once but twice, Grimoire Heart, the king's bloodhounds, us. I mean you have faced more then your share of those big fish Bix mentioned. Most people don't ever face one wizard of that caliber."
"I never thought of it that way."
"Your inexplicable bad luck in opponents is probably a large part of why you underestimate yourself, Miss Lucy. You quite outclass most common wizards."
"You really think so? I mean, Team Natsu has to rescue me so often-"
"Shut the fuck up, Blondie. Half the reason they have to rescue you so much is because they went off halfcocked and blew shit up before they should have. You're fine. We wouldn't have brought you along on an S-class mission if you weren't. It would have been stupid and you would have likely gotten yourself or one of us or both killed."
Lucy smiled as she sunk just a little further into the hot water. Laxus wasn't a talker, so to hear him make a speach like that about her ment a lot. They all ment it. They trusted her to have their backs in a fight. No-one had tried to get her to sit the fight out, or run, or told her they would keep her safe. When she was with Laxus and the Thunder Legion she was a strong, capable wizard.
"I'm gunna head out, find myself some good beer and a decent bar stool. Train leaves at 10 tomorrow. If I have to come find any of you shit heads you are getting thrown onto that death trap already half dead." Lucy had a feeling that threat was ment primarily for Bickslow, but she was absolutely not going to be late. Just because the thunder god liked her didn't mean he wouldn't electrocute her
"Try not to let anyone goad you into a fight, Laxus." Laxus waved aside Freed's concern as he walked away. Lucy raised an eyebrow at the warning. "Yes, it has been known to happen. It is less frequent in recent years, but Laxus does have a dragon slayer's temper and competitive spirit."
"Remember that one time and that guy? The one with the unicorn tattooed on his ass?" *unicorn, rainbows, right on his ass, so asked for it.
"Mavis! I wish I didn't." Lucy grinned. The craziest stuff came out of these people's mouths. She loved it.
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"We're back!" Laxus snorted behind her as she threw open the guildhall doors and shouted out her greeting.
"Lucy!"
"Hey guys! Welcome back!"
"How was the job?"
"Laxus! Come drink with me! These pansies can't keep up!" Cana didn't have to beg very hard to get Laxus to join her.
"Lu! You'll never guess what I brought back from my last mission!" A book. She could already guess. Levy only got that excited about books, and on rare, drunken occasions Gajeel. "You too Freed. Come see!" The shock on Freed's face as they were drug across the guildhall by the tiny blunette was giggle-worthy.
"Take it easy, Levy. We aren't going anywhere." Knowing there was no getting away from Levy once she got her claws into you Lucy turned and beckoned the rest of the team to follow them. "Hey, Mira! Can we have our drinks downstairs today?"
"Sure thing, Lucy!"
"OK! So we were on this translation mission, in this old temple, and the crazy, useless old man we were working for said he had no use for musty old scrolls that would just rot away," Freed's outraged gasp told Lucy just what he thought of that notion. "And if I could translate the carvings on the walls I could have them in lieu of my part of the reward, so look! Look what I got!"
Scrolls. Levy got scrolls. Old, musty, probably priceless scrolls. Not that Lucy wasn't almost as thrilled as Levy was, but...
"Levy, why are they in the guildhall? They could be destroyed!" Levy blanched. "We have to take them down into the library!"
"Actually I could set up a rune barrier and-"
"Oh, no you don't!" Freed and Lucy were forcibly separated from Levy by an irate Evergreen. "Bix! Help Levy take those to the library. These two just got back and I refuse to let them work again for at least twelve hours." Bickslow and his babies laughed as they helped Levy pick up the scrolls. "Sit! Both of you!"
"Ever, we just took a spa day."
"Doesn't matter!"
"Here you go guys!" Mira popped up almost magically to hand out drinks. "Strawberry milkshake for Lucy, iced mint tea for Evergreen, hot earl grey for Freed, and... Where is Bickslow?"
"Helping Levy move her scrolls so they don't get destroyed."
"Oh. Well, in that case. Here's his triple berry smoothie." Mira wondered off mumbling about blue-haired babies.
"Should we warn them about that?"
"Perhaps. We should defiantly inform Gajeel so he does not feel that Bickslow is encroaching upon his territory." Lucy had the distinct impression that Freed made that suggestion out of consideration for Gajeel as opposed to concern for Bickslow.
"Oh, I don't know. It might be fun to see what happens if we just let them figure it out for themselves." Lucy groaned aloud. That would be fun, but Evergreen's plan would not be nice at all.
"Come on guys. You really wanna sacrifice our friends to the wrath of a territorial dragon slayer for a laugh?" She was met with silence and serious faces. She glared at them and slurped at her milkshake.
"Actually such an incident might force Gajeel into clarifying his vague claim on Levy." She arched a brow at Freed and waited. "As far as I am aware he has not declared her as either kin or his mate. I can not imagine this is fair to Levy. We all know how she feels about him." Lucy blinked at Freed and felt a grin slowly spreading over her face.
"Freed, you diabolical angel." He blushed. She didn't think she had done anything to cause such a reaction, but she took note for future reference.
"Why the hell are you giving pet names to the nerd."
"Hey, Bix! Levy." Lucy tried to look innocent and was sure she pulled it off a bit to well considering the sudden suspicion on her friends faces. "Have a seat."
"What did you do, Lu?"
"I didn't do anything. I'm totally innocent."
"Nobody is buying that, Cosplayer."
"Ever, Freed, back me up here."
"Lucy's just been sitting here." Evergreen had a bit of a smirk going, but Freed kept a straight face when he answered. Of course bit of those expressions were normal for them.
"Miss Lucy is indeed innocent of initiating anything malicious toward either of you." Levy relaxed. Bickslow, knowing Freed a whole lot better than the smaller blunette, still looked suspicious. Lucy was getting pretty good at reading the tall man, even when he wore that visor like he was today.
XxXxXxXxX
Three days later Gajeel returned to the guild to find Levy and Bickslow locked in the supply room together against their will. Bix had escaped relatively unscathed due to the team's assistance. An extremely indignant Levy had been tossed over Gajeel's shoulder and carried out the door. Freed's plan to force a confession out of the iron slayer must have worked because they had been locked in his house for two days now.
Team Natsu still wasn't back from their mission. That is, they had come back while she was not present and had been sent back out. Gramps said he had sent them on a particularly long and tedious mission when they returned to the guild the day after she got back to town. That was to both give Lucy and the guild time to calm down, and to give Team Natsu time to think about why Lucy shouldn't have needed to calm down in their first place.
Lucy had spent the entirety of the past week alternately trying to forget that Bix had told her to talk to Freed of all people about her Virgo issue, and trying to work up the courage to actually ask him. Everybody else happened to be occupied today and the two of them were in the guild library looking through some recently donated books on various magical topics. Lucy had gotten fed up with her own wishy-washy-ness and decided she should just go ahead and ask. What's the worst that could happen? Freed could blush and tell her Bickslow was joking? She liked it when Freed blushed.
"F-freed?" His clear teal eyes immediately met hers and she decided beating around the bush wouldn't help her nerves. "Bix said to ask you about Virgo. He said you might have some books or something to help me understand her." Freed did not blush. In fact his eyes seemed to almost glow with how intenseltly he was looking at her. His voice was very soft when he began speaking.
"I do indeed. Though I do not imagine most are the type you are thinking of." What did that even mean? Freed began returning the book he was reading to its assigned place. "Would you like to walk with me to my house? I can make you some sweet berry tea. I believed you would enjoy the taste. It would be easier for us to talk there."
Freed's house was not far from the guild. They walked in slightly uncomfortable silence. Lucy's unease with the topic they were about to discuss was the only reason it was uncomfortable at all. She thought about attempting to break the silence several times, but realized that would only make things worse.
"Oh!" Lucy couldn't help but gasp when Freed led her through an iron gate and towards a lovely Victorian style house. It was painted a yellow so pale as to almost be white and trimmed in an almost equally pale blue. "Freed, it's beautiful."
"Thank you, Miss Lucy. I'm very glad you like it. I admit my home is a source of pride for me."
"Oh?" She wanted to ask more questions, but felt like it would be rude.
"I designed and built it. Laxus, Bickslow, and Evergreen assisted me. I feel as though this house is the first thing to really be mine. Before everything was... Everything before Fairy Tail came about because of my family's money or influence. This was just me. My success. My choices."
She knew how that felt. That was a stupid thing to say because he knew that, so she just gave his for arm a light squeeze and smiled at him. Trying to express that she was also proud of him. Freed had managed to walk away from that life and become so much stronger on his own. It greatly amused her that the man blushed and ducked inside his house as soon as he could get the door unlocked.
"Please make yourself at home while I preparje the tea." She was tempted to offer to help, but knew Freed would consider it improper. He was hosting and she would let him. So Lucy took the opportunity to grouse the impressive bookshelves that lined his living room.
Magical theory, lost magics and magical legends, the basics of any type of magic she could think of. Each of his teammates had their own shelf. She was surprised to find that she had one as well. Strategy, psychology, laws of Fiore and the neighboring countries. Of course there was plenty of reference material on runes of different origins and their applications.
There were an so two full shelves of fiction. Not just any fiction either. Unless her eyes were lying to her this was romance, erotica romance at that. She rubbed her eyes and blinked. Still there. She even recognized a few titles from the collections she and her girlfriends had. Capturing the Duchess was on Levy's bookshelf. A Sword and a Heart practically lived on Erza's nightstand. She had seen Juvia reading Midnight Mist. And Lucy knew exactly what was in Taming a Beast because she had read it herself about eight times.
"Find anything interestingly?" She jumped a bit.
"You... You read these?" Mavis, that was a stupid question. He set their tea on the coffee table before he approached the shelf.
"I do. In fact..." He ran his elegant fingers over the books and pulled several off the shelf. "I believe these will help you understand the way your spirit feels."
"These books have... Umm..."
"They have some of the elements you are curious about in them. You are welcome to take them home." He settled himself into his chair and watched her over his teacup. She sat down, but couldn't keep herself from fidgeting.
"But... It's fiction. It's not really like that. I just.. I font understand how a person can enjoy letting someone... Do those things to them."
"I see. Miss Lucy, what you strive for in life is freedom, independence, the ability to be your own master. Allowing another to dominate you is not something that would bring you pleasure. Am I correct?"
"Well, yeah! I left home because I didn't want to be some bodies pretty little doll and brood mare."
"And therein lies your difficulty in understanding Virgo." She waited. Surely he could help her understand instead of simply telling her why she didn't get it.
"Laxus says I think to much. Bickslow says the same thing, but as he rarely thinks at all his opinion holds little weight in this instance. It takes a great deal to distract me enough to cease formulating plans and calculating variables. Trying to come up with every possible outcome of every possible decision or action. I have difficulty making decisions at times for that reason. I... Overthink everything." She had seen that happen. Seen him lock up instead of taking action. In fact he tended to mumble to himself in times like that, and she enjoyed listening to him do so as long as it wasn't a crisis moment.
"It is common knowledge, but few people consider the fact that I house a demon within me." She felt lost, but knew that Freed had a point in talking about his magic. "I fight it constantly. I can feel it trying to scratch it's way out of me. Rune magic was something I chose in an attempt to prevent the demon from running wild. I create rules to maintain control over myself and my environment."
"The constant fighting within myself and the mental struggle to maintain control is... Exhausting." He slumped a bit in his chair, as if admitting it sapped his energy. "Handing control to someone else is incredibly relaxing. Having someone I trust make the decisions and take the responsibility from me means I don't have to fight or struggle. I can just let myself feel. Surrendering my will makes me feel free."
Lucy struggled to keep her jaw from dropping. What Freed was saying was painting a lot of things in a whole new light. Little things he had said and done suddenly seemed... Not so little. She wasn't sure how to deal with it.
She took the books home and read them. Three of the five had ...sexually aggressive females. Somehow no matter how the male protagonist in the story was described Lucy kept immagining him with green hair and teal eyes. She hadn't decided what to think about that.
The other two seemed to be more Virgo's speed. She had decided to go ahead and face all her questions head on and called Virgo out and read them out loud with her. She fainted, or at least the celestial spirit equivalent, which was dissapearing when they read a part that she found particularly... Stimulating.
Over the next couple weeks Lucy worked out a new, punishment related, subclause to add to Virgo's contract. She still didn't completely understand, but she did understand that this really was something Virgo wanted from her. There were rules. Virgo was not allowed to ask for punishment unless Lucy offered. And Lucy drew the line firmly at bringing actual pain to her friend. A flick on the forehead was one thing, but Lucy couldn't bring herself to actually hurt Virgo.
When she wasn't with Virgo she was with the team. Freed seemed to be unaffected by the conversation they had at his house. For some reason that bothered her. She focused that anxious energy into a game of sorts. She watched, she waited, and when the opportunity presented itself she would strike. Quickly, precisely. And then she would be gone just as fast. Retreating to watch the results of her actions.
"Food is feul. Dessert is a foolish and unnecessary tradition that negatively impacts a body's efficiency, as it is nutritionaly imbalanced."
"Not everything has to be useful, Freed! Cut loose a little!" *cut loose, have some cake, live a little.
Lucy got up and went down to the bar. A few words to Kinana got her a bowl of sweetened cream whipped into soft peaks and a thinly sliced peach. Seeing as how they were still bickering when she got back upstairs she shoved the back of Bickslow's head just hard enough for his visor to contact the table, resulting in a clang and a curse from him. She sat her pretty little ass right on said table in front of Freed. She purposely let her legs lean against his arm.
"M-miss Lucy?"
"Close your eyes." He was slow to do so until she raised a single eyebrow. "Keep them closed. Open your mouth."
"But-" She popped open the top button of his coat, and when he gasped, swipped her finger through the cream and placed it between his open lips.
"Taste. Savor every little bit on your tongue." Her breath caught in her throat as she watched him suck the cream off her finger. "It's sweet and light. Tastes a little bit like sunshine. The cream at least. I'm not sure about me." She saw him shiver a bit before she pulled her finger back. "Again. Open."
When he started to shake his head she popped open another button. His body jerked, but he opened his mouth a bit. She was tempted to kiss him. He was just so incredibly kissable in that moment and the way his mouth had felt around her finger... Instead she took a slice of peach, scooped some cream onto it and placed it on his tongue, closing his mouth with a light touch under his chin.
"Creamy and juicy. Peaches are a happy fruit. Like summertime." She folded down his lapel where she had unbuttoned his coat, and smoothed it down. "Relax today Freed. Enjoy your dessert. It's good for you. Lots of Vitamin C and A. You can open your eyes now."
Then she slid off the table and sat herself in the corner to read a book. At least that's what she pretended to do. The reality was she was watching Freed slowly eat his peaches, each slice loaded with cream and every bite savored.
"Damn, Cosplayer."
"Go lick a frozen flagpole, Bix."
"Even if Gray agreed I doubt Juvia would let me survive. Might be worth it though." *worth it, tasty popsicle, Natsu says, shit up stupid. She rolled her eyes and Bickslow and his babies. They were such pervs. The funny thing was that little Pipi was the one who said the worst things and she didn't even mean it that way.
Lucy was exceedingly pleased to note that Freed left the top buttons of his jacket open for the rest of the day. Whenever Bix teased him he would reach up and touch the empty buttonholes and relax into his seat without rising to the seith mage's taunts. Evergreen's house, which she had all but moved into completely, had a constant supply of fresh peaches on the counter and cream in the fridge for a long while after that also.
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To be continued