Hello, people! Nightlingbolt here! I'm back with a brand new chapter of "Lucky Star!" Yes, my computer has a new keyboard, and I now have full access to all my documents!
This may not be the most exciting thing you've ever read, but it leaks Lucy's involvement with Jellal a bit more. Frickin' nosy bookworm has to go ahead and muck everything up for our little Celestial mage... *grumble grumble*
Well, everything I had to say about this chapter up and left with my old keyboard, so I'mma just shut up and let you all enjoy the story.
I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters, Hiro Mashima does.
Lucy hadn't seen much of Jellal in the days leading up to their date. She was hardly surprised by this fact, since Natsu had dragged the team on an S-Class job (with Erza's approval, of course). They left on Saturday, and the date with Jellal was on a Wednesday, so she posed a challenge to Natsu, Gray, and Erza that if they were back by then, she would let them read the first chapter of a new book she was working on. Of course, they ate it up, and they were back by Wednesday morning.
The town the job took place in was a good ways away from Magnolia, and they had taken a late train, so by the hertime they reached the station, it was already lunchtime and Lucy was, in a word, starving! She and Gray decided to eat at the guild, while Natsu and Erza went off to do a little training.
Honestly, Lucy doubted whether those two were even human sometimes.
The ice and celestial mages were greeted by Mira making a sly remark about them coming to the guild alone together, which in turn provoked the wrath of a certain water mage that shall remain nameless. Then Cana had invited Gray to have a drink with her, which only served to make said water mage even angrier at his "loose, hedonistic ways." Eventually, Gray gave in and planted a soft kiss on Juvia's cheek (and damn it, I named the water mage). She left them alone after that, but gave Lucy an evil look before sitting down next to Lisanna.
"So," said Gray. "When do we get to read your new novel?"
Lucy bit her lip. Whenever she had had free time during the job, she had been brainstorming ideas for a first chapter that would satisfy her friends, but so far she had come up with three pages of utter tripe! "Well, uh… see, Gray…" she stammered.
"Lu-chan!" exclaimed a high-pitched voice. "You didn't tell me you were working on a new story!"
Lucy groaned. Only one person ever called her that. She would blow everything for her!
"Levy, shut up!" hissed the blonde.
Gray frowned at Lucy's reaction to the short blunette. "So you're not really writing a new novel," he said.
"No," replied Lucy meekly.
"So you're keeping something from us."
"No."
"No?"
"Not you and Natsu so much as Erza."
Lucy was trying to keep a secret from Erza? Now Gray was interested. He was about to inquire further when a second mass of blue hair came along.
"Hi, Lucy," said Jellal.
"Hey, Jellal," replied Lucy with a hint of annoyance. Was the universe conspiring against her today? If not, it may as well be!
"I heard you guys just got back," said Jellal. "So how was the mission?"
"Good," said Gray before Lucy could answer. "Easy as hell for an S-Class job, but still good."
"Whoever said Hell was easy?" said Jellal. The girls laughed a little at this.
"It's a figure of speech, Jellal," said an annoyed Gray.
"Thank you, Gray, that was the joke," said Lucy, still annoyed that Jellal was here. "So are you looking for Erza?" she asked him, thinking that would be a viable excuse for Jellal to talk to her.
"Actually, I wanted to make sure you weren't too tired for tonight," said Jellal, much to the interest of Gray and Levy, not to mention the delight of Lucy's palm as it met her forehead.
"No, I can still make it," said Lucy, desperately trying to pretend Gray wasn't hearing this. Levy could keep a secret, but if Gray thought Erza thought he knew something she didn't, he'd crack like an egg.
"Great!" said Jellal. "So I'll pick you up at your apartment around five?"
"Sounds great. See you then," said Lucy. Satisfied, Jellal walked off, presumably to look for Erza like Lucy suggested.
Gray took the situation in stride. "Huh. Who would've guessed?" he said with a smirk.
"Wait a minute," said Levy. "You and Jellal are…?"
"Levy!" hissed Lucy. "The walls have ears!"
"You and Jellal are dating!" Mira exclaimed as she came out of nowhere, having wanted to see what was causing Lucy to be so high-strung.
Said celestial mage groaned for the umpteenth time. "And they heard damn near everything," she muttered. Turning to face the Take Over mage, she said, "Fine! I'm going on a date with Jellal tonight! That's why I wanted to be back quickly! Happy?"
"Am I happy? No. Am I satisfied? Yeah, somewhat," said Gray.
"But wait, I'm confused," said Mira. "I thought it was Erza that Jellal liked. In fact, the first thing Jellal did coming to the guild while Erza was away was ask for her. He did it every day until last week."
"Well… Erza shot him down, so I decided to take him out to cheer him up," explained Lucy, careful not to divulge any details about the redhead's relationship with Natsu.
"Well, I won't say I understand, because I don't know the exact nature of their relationship," said Mira. "But what I do understand is that not every story is lucky enough to have a happy ending, and that breaks my heart a little."
"Yeah, but on the bright side, Jellal gets to start anew with Lucy at his side!" said Levy. "A clean slate, a blank page, unlimited possibilities! How romantic!"
"Eh?" gasped Lucy. "This is just a friendly date! Don't be ridiculous, Levy!" She took a minute to compose herself.
"Just please, whatever you guys do, don't tell Erza about this!"
"Eh? Why not, Lucy?" asked Mira.
"I don't want her thinking I'm just trying to get Jellal on the rebound," said Lucy.
Mira laughed. "That's a silly reason, Lucy! Erza won't care just as long as you both are happy," she said. "That's just the kind of person she is."
"She's right, Lucy," said Gray. "And besides, how can there be a rebound if they were never together?"
"I would think that as long as he had feelings for her…" replied Levy.
"I don't care!" exclaimed Lucy. "Just don't tell her!"
"Fine, fine," muttered Gray as the girls promised their silence.
"You said the date was at five, right?" said Mira. "You have less than five hours until then. What are you going to do until then?"
"Probably just hang out here for a while, then head home and take a quick nap," replied Lucy. "Hey, where's Gajeel? I want to get some ideas for my novel." Mira pointed her to the end of the bar where the Iron Dragon Slayer was eating some screws.
As Lucy ran off, Gray asked, "How would Metal Head be any help?"
"He's a songwriter! He has ideas!" said Levy a little too defensively. This only caused Mira to smirk evilly, though the Solid Script mage remained oblivious.
Jellal was not in the mood for this.
By "this," he meant another session with Doranbolt to attempt to retrieve his missing memories.
It was the same as the last time: Doranbolt connected himself to Jellal with his memory magic, Jellal was reliving the day he first turned evil, and he was screaming from the painful memory of receiving "Zeref's ghost."
Doranbolt knew it was dangerous for him to maintain the psychic connection, and so he severed it just before Jellal collapsed from exhaustion. The Council mage helped Jellal to stand, just barely hiding his own fatigue.
"Are you all right?" Doranbolt asked out of concern for his charge's well-being.
"Yeah," said Jellal, massaging his temples.
The fact of the matter was, Jellal's mind was strong. Much stronger than he would expect an eight-year brainwashing victim to be. In other words, it wasn't that Jellal had forgotten the last eight years of his life like he told Guran Doma. Rather, it was that his psyche was repressing them entirely.
"You know we don't have to do things this way," said Doranbolt.
"I'm fine!" Jellal shot back. "I just need to get past the initial brainwashing."
Doranbolt sighed. "If you say so," he said. "But I just feel like you're taking this with the wrong grain of salt, so to speak."
"I'm not sure I follow."
"A person's memory, in terms of magic, is linked to three things: his body, his mind, and his spirit," explained Doranbolt. "Your body is strong, your mind is willing, but your spirit is what's throwing everything out of balance. Only when all three are in sound harmony will we make any progress."
Jellal was dumbfounded. "I'm giving everything I have into these sessions!" he yelled.
"And why do you feel that way?" asked Doranbolt.
"I've told you before! I want to atone for my crimes against not only the magical community, but the people I love as well!" said Jellal with conviction.
Doranbolt sighed. What Jellal failed to understand was that, subconsciously, he still lived in fear of whatever crimes he may have committed, and he had yet to truly make peace with that aspect of himself. "Whatever. You've got a date tonight, and I'll bet this is the last thing you want to be thinking about, so we'll call this an early day."
Jellal gave a noncommittal grunt. He was all to eager to think about anything else except what he felt Doranbolt was implying.
"Don't forget we're leaving on that job I picked out at nine, so be home early." Doranbolt ordered. He stretched his arms out and yawned. "Well, I'd say I earned myself a nap." He stalked off towards his bedroom.
"Doranbolt!" Jellal called. The Rune Knight stopped in his tracks.
"What's up?" asked Doranbolt.
"Do you, er... have any tips?" asked Jellal. "For tonight, I mean."
Doranbolt raised an eyebrow. "You're not expecting Lucy to put out on the first date, are you?" he said.
The look on the ex-Wizard Saint's face was priceless.
"I'm kidding!" laughed Doranbolt. "I know you're not that kind of person!" The glare Jellal gave him sobered him up almost immediately.
"Seriously, though," said Doranbolt. "Every time I've made it with a woman, I was just being myself. There are several things women want in a partner. You might not fit every woman's description of the ideal man, but chances are, she can sense when a man is trying to impress her, and that will only drive them away nine times out of ten." He sighed again. "I'm sorry I can't be more helpful than this."
"Actually, that's just what I needed to hear," said Jellal with a smile, which Lahar reluctantly returned.
"I hope tonight works out for you," he said. As he started to walk away, he said, "Oh, and check your closet. There's a new suit you can wear tonight. You'll know it when you see it. Good luck!" With that, Doranbolt retired to his bedroom for that aforementioned nap.
Jellal decided to heed Doranbolt's words and check out the suit his jailer/roommate was talking about. And when he saw it, he did indeed feel lucky.
And there you go! If you haven't noticed by now, a recurring theme for this story is to make some sort of reference to luck at the end of each chapter.
You know, I honestly wasn't expecting as many reviews as I got for Chapter One. I mean, higher profile authors are bound to get more for a first chapter, but I gotta say, I think nine is a personal best for me! Thank you all for your support, it inspires me to continue writing. Not that I wouldn't if I got no reviews whatsoever, but still, it helps to know at least someone likes what I write. I mean, half my work I end up hating about a week later!
But I'm not gonna go off on a tangent here. Not now that I'm back in action. If I'm reaching any Pokemon fans, expect a ShellPWNageShipping oneshot (Ash's Oshawott and Ash's Snivy) for Halloween. I dunno, I alluded to the pairing in a Comashipping oneshot you can find on Serebii Forums (yes, I'm unfortunately still Darth Osiris there because they don't allow name changes there for some reason, and if I make a new account with the name Nightlingbolt, both accounts will get banned.
What did I say about tangents? And did anyone ever figure out how to get around the question/exclamation marks not showing up next to each other? If you did, PM me letting me know.
I have Chapter Three typed up on my iPod, so I'd expect a Sunday release. Until then, I should get to work on N for ABCs, just so I can come back from my hiatus when I said I would. So, peace and love from Nightlingbolt! Be good, or at the very least, neutral.