So, my parents gave in and finally got me a laptop because the computer broke down again. And thank goodness for memory sticks.
Now, on with the story.
"Mama," she'd once said on of the nights her beautiful mother was tucking her small child into bed. "Mama, what are horoscopes?"
"Where did you hear such a word?" her mother asked in reply, a hint of bitterness in her melodious voice.
"Ms Daffodil, the new maid," she answered. "What are horoscopes?" she asked again, more eager and impatient.
"Well, horoscopes are like fortune-telling, except you use your zodiac sign and the planet alignments and positions to tell the future." She looked at her young daughter who was wide-eyed with fascination. "But," she added and her daughter's magical smile faded away, "they don't work."
Subconsciously, she stuck her bottom lip out in dismay. "So, you can't tell the future?"
Her mother gave out a harmonic laugh. "Just because horoscopes don't work, doesn't mean you can't tell the future."
Her face lit up again in delight. "How?" she asked in anticipation.
"Well there's always tarot card-reading. That's when you pick out these cards with your fortunes drawn on them."
"And they work?"
"If it's the right person reading them," she answered with a shrug. "But you shouldn't be worrying about the future," she told her, affectionately smoothing her daughter's gorgeous blond locks. "You're still a child, you should be focused about the present."
"But can't I know what happens in the future?" she asked in frustration. Her father was extremely rich, able to get her anything money could buy. However, she doubted he could buy her a way to find out what mysteries the murky future held.
"Sometimes you shouldn't know. Just leave it to fate."
III - Truthful Tarots
Shivers ran down Lucy's spine as she stepped towards the small mysterious purple tent with anticipation. Although she had never had her fortune told, she deeply believed that whatever future they revealed would be true. But what future did she have? She had no home, no real family. She had absolutely no idea what her future held, if she even had one.
"Natsu, let's go back," Lucy pleaded. Now, the mere idea of knowing what her future held was terrifying. "Look, Cana's on her break!" she added, regarding the sign saying 'Madame Cana is now on her ten minute break'.
"Pfft, who cares about that," Natsu scoffed. He sent a negligent wave with his hand at the sign and said, "That's to the customers, not to us." He proceeded to the tent. He went inside the small tent, forcing Lucy to follow. "Cana will be happy to see me!"
The knife-sharp tarot card that was flung at Natsu said otherwise. Luckily, Natsu narrowly dodged it but collided with Lucy, bumping heads. Her head pounded in pain and all she could see nothing but flying stars.
"Can't you read the sign, Natsu?" A woman spoke in brackishness. Lucy blinked several times until all the luminous stars were gone and she could clearly see the room.
The first thing that surprised her was the rancid smell of beer. It wasn't unpleasant but mostly shocking because Lucy had expected the smell of incense or herbs. It's a fortune-telling, not a séance! She reminded herself, although having no clue what a séance was like either.
The tent was dark, with the only sources of light being the fairy lights from outside, seeping through the tent, and the dim lamp on the table in the centre.
The woman who had spoken was sitting on a comfy chair – 'Madame' Cana. She had long wavy brown hair and striking blue eyes that were illuminated by the lamp. She was wearing a bikini-style top that revealed a tattoo – just like Gray's and Natsu's- on her waist.
"Ah, so this must be the girl Charle had a premonition about,"Cana said, remarking Lucy with calculating eyes. She looked the blond up and down with scrutiny before her face broke out into a giant smile. "Nice to meetcha! I'm Cana!"
"Uh, hi," Lucy meekly replied.
"Sit down, girlie! Don't be shy!"Cana told her with a grin. Lucy glanced back to where the tarot card Cana had thrown had missed Natsu to rip through the tent. Obviously, Cana wasn't always a carefree character and could be just as fierce as Erza.
She hesitated but then Natsu gave her a lame, but encouraging, thumbs up. Reluctantly, Lucy sat down opposite Cana. "Wait, let me just finish my drink,"Canasaid. She picked up the huge beer barrel beside her and took a large gulp from it. Lucy watched in awe as she downed the barrel.
"Aren't you going to offer her some, Cana?" Lucy nearly jumped out of her skin. She looked at the back of the tent. In the dark shadows sat a man in his mid-thirties sitting on the rug on the floor, drink in hand and a little four-year-old snoozing away on his lap.
"Macao!" Natsu said in excitement. "I didn't know you were back!"
"Just got back a few hours ago,"Macaoreplied.
"Oh, sorry!"Cana apologized to Lucy. She had momentarily stopped drinking. "How undignified of me. Want a drink?" she asked, holding out the large barrel.
"No thanks," Lucy said. "I'm not legal."
"Pfft, who is?" was what Cana replied with a roll of her eyes before taking another lug from the barrel. She stopped, put the barrel away and then wiped her mouth. "Okay, let's get started." She reached into her purse and pulled out a few cards. "Just the short version, alright? After all, I'm on my break!" she shouted the last word at the oblivious Natsu who was trying to coaxMacao into fighting him.
Cana placed them face down on the table in front of her. "Simple enough: just pick 2 cards."
"Eh? Okay," Lucy said and then picked a random card and flipped it over. "What the…"
The first card she had picked had a pink love-heart with many swords pierced through it. Heartbreak. Is my future going to be that horrible? Lucy thought. She glanced over at Natsu, who was still trying to persuadeMacao into fighting him.
"Okay, pick another,"Cana said casually, not at all fazed by the card.
Lucy looked at her speechless for a moment but then regained her grip on reality and flipped over another card. Her frown deepened and her eyes widened with shock and horror.
The card had a picture of a hooded figure with a shadowed face who was pointing with a bony white finger. Death.
Okay, things got weirder. Am I going to die soon…? No, this tarot reading couldn't be accurate. And anyway, everyone has to die sometime, right? She told herself, trying to shake herself of the nerves. She was regretting going with Natsu to get her fortune told.
Cana took both of the cards and Lucy watched in shock as she scrunched them up into balls. Then, surprisingly enough, Cana smoothed out the tarot cards again so they were no longer scrunched up and placed them back in front of Lucy.
They were different cards.
It was no longer Death and up one card and showed it to Lucy. "This card says that you'll face some danger tonight," she said to Lucy, holding up a card that showed a long sword stuck in the ground. It reminded her of the tale of King Arthur. "But, you'll get away unharmed."
"And this,"Cana continued, dropping the card to hold the other tarot card. It showed the zodiac sign of Cancer. "Shows that Cancer will help you out."
Cancer the Crab…? Lucy thought, eyes widening. Her hand automatically went to the keys on her belt. The metal was cold against her fingertips.
"And lastly,"Cana held up another card that had appeared out of nowhere.
"Wait, I only picked two cards," Lucy objected.
"I know. I picked this one a few hours ago, after Charle had a vision about you."
"Vision? She's a psychic?"
Cana shrugged. "I guess you could call it that. But anyway, your third says that, to be blunt, you'll fall in love."
The third card showed an unmarked, undamaged heart with angel wings. The tarot card had a fiery background.
Fortunately – the irony was not lost on her – for her, Natsu was paying no attention. Lucy blushed and looked away, making Cana laugh. "Oh, you're just too adorable, girlie!"
"Oh, are you done now?" Natsu asked. "Cool, let's go Luce. You still have the rest of Fairy Tail to meet!"
Lucy got up from her seat and thanked Cana who just shrugged in reply and got out a beer bottle.
"Okay, where now?" she asked Natsu.
"Wait, you haven't told me what Cana said. So, tell me, what's in your future?" he asked curiously.
Lucy blushed with embarrassment. "Not telling."
"Oh, why not?" he whined. "You're ~mean!"
Lucy laughed. Natsu was acting like such a baby. "You didn't tell me what Wendy does for the circus!" she retorted, remarking their earlier conversation with the young girl.
"But that's a secret!"
"Well, so is my future!"
"Fine," Natsu admitted defeat with a pout.
"Oh, wipe that look off of your face and let's go," Lucy said. She started walking in a random direction and Natsu trudged behind her.
As she walked on alone, Lucy's mind wondered back to her 'future'. 'Cancer will help you out'. What does that even mean? Her finger delicately traced the outline of one of the gold Keys. '…you'll face some danger tonight.' The words echoed in her mind.
… … …
Finally, the night was drawing to a close but they were yet to go on the Ferris wheel. Lucy, having never been on a Ferris wheel, was desperate to go on but Natsu objected to the idea. She continued to dissuade the stubborn Natsu but he was determined not to ride on the Ferris wheel.
"Pleeeeeeeease, Natsu?" she begged him like a bratty child when he wouldn't budge. "Please please please?"
"No, I hate rides!" he protested in a whine for the gazillionth time. Both of them were acting like ridiculous bratty kids.
Lucy pouted like Natsu had done earlier that day in hopes of persuading him. "~Please?"
"Ha, it's no use," someone barked out a deep laughed. Lucy looked up at the tall man and gasped. The man whom had spoken was beyond creepy. His long black hair and several piercings made him resemble a punk rocker. However Lucy had an inkling that if she were to tell him this, there would be hell to play. He was extremely muscular too, more so than Natsu.
"W- what do you mean?" she asked, still flummoxed and a little terrified of the man, with good reason as well.
"Little Salamander gets motion sickness," he chuckled again.
The terror Lucy had been feeling before quickly evaporated and she whipped her head back at Natsu in bemusement. "Is that true?" Lucy asked, and she couldn't help but laugh too.
"Are you asking for a fight, Gajeel?" Natsu asked, glowering at him like he had to Gray. Natsu sure does like getting into fights…
"Back off, Salamander," Gajeel replied pushing Natsu away.
Someone sighed. Lucy looked for the source of the small sigh and realized that it came from none other than the small black, bipedal cat who stood at Gajeel's feet. "Humans are such noisy people," it sighed again, rolling its yellow eyes.
Another Happy?
"Hi," Lucy said, crouching down to look at the cat better. Unlike Happy, this cat looked older and rather grumpy. He - she was assuming that the cat was a he - had an odd scar across his left eye. She wondered if the cat had gotten into a cat fight with Happy or something. The cat noticed her staring and looked at her oddly. Embarassed, she said, "I'm Lucy."
The cat eyed her suspiciously. "I am Pantherlily," he replied.
"Are you Gajeel's cat?" she asked, glancing back up at Gajeel. The guy didn't look like he should be trusted with a cat… or anything small.
"Yep, so keep your paws off him," Gajeel growled, shooting her a glare.
She hastily stood up, flustered. "Hey, I wasn't going to-" Lucy stopped and gawked at Gajeel. "Are you chewing on an iron nail?" she asked in horror.
Gajeel glowered. "So?" he asked, eyes darkening.
"N- Nothing," Lucy stammered in fear of Gajeel. He was definitely someone you should not anger unless you wanted your bones to be broken. He's kind of like the guy version of Erza, Lucy thought in realization. She smiled for a moment at her humorous concept but then the grin immediately vanished from her face. I shouldn't tell him that.
Lucy adverted her eyes away from Gajeel, nervous that he might have heard what she had thought. Gajeel furrowed his brow at her, perplexed, before rolling his eyes. "Girls," he muttered under his breathe as though this was some form of explanation of Lucy's weird behavior. "So are you two getting on?" he impatiently asked, motioning to the Ferris wheel. "I haven't got all day, y'know."
Lucy turned back to Natsu. "Pleaaaaase Natsu!" she begged. "I've never been on one before!"
"Fine, stop your moping!" Natsu said with a sigh and Lucy grinned. "You're such a weirdo."
Her jaw dropped. "I'm the weirdo? You're the one who can eat fire!"
"She's got you there, Salamander," Gajeel agreed with a laugh.
"You're one to talk!" Lucy said, turning to him and ignoring the eeriness of his face. "You eat metal!"
Gajeel glared at Lucy but she was too stubborn to be frightened again. She glowered back at him and Pantherlily suppressed a groan. It was obvious he didn't like the noise or their tomfoolery.
Lucy yelped for the billionth time today when Gajeel, annoyed, pushed her and Natsu into the passenger car.
Lucy gripped the iron bar to stop herself from bouncing up and down in joy. Her first Ferris wheel ride! Her excitement quickly dissolved when she glanced over at Natsu.
When Gajeel said Natsu gets motion sickness, he sure was understating it, the blond thought as she watched Natsu turn pale green as the Ferric Wheel started moving. His usual confident and ecstatic look was gone, replaced with pure repulsion.
"Ph, I pity you, Natsu," Lucy softly said as he turned ivory green.
The Ferris wheel halted to a stop while they were at the top. The green washed away from Natsu's face as he looked at the long way down. "Wow, we're so high up!"
"Aren't you scared?" Lucy asked. How could he be so suddenly relaxed? She leant forward to look down. The view of Fairy Tail Carnival was just beautiful. Maybe that was why he looked so joyful again.
"Scared of heights? Yeah right. Happy's carried me higher than this!" Natsu said with laugh. Lucy nearly smiled at Natsu's and Happy's lovely relationship until she realized that she had never had such a strong bond with anyone other than her Mom. Lucy had never had any friends whom weren't maids or nannies or chefs.
"You okay?" Natsu asked her. "You look weird."
"There you go again, always saying I'm weird!" Lucy snapped and Natsu's face fell. "Sorry," she said, shaking her head. "I'm just -"
What happens next proves that there's a reason to be scared of heights.
The safety bar didn't prove to provide safety because the nails weren't properly screwed in on Lucy's side of the passenger seat. Lucy, who had been leaning forward against the bar to look at the view found herself close to sliding out the passenger seat. She would have fallen if Natsu hadn't grabbed the hem of her shirt and haul her back onto the seat.
"Thanks, Natsu," she gasped.
"Don't mention it," he said. "Actually, do mention it."
"Huh?"
"First, I save you bag, next I save you from falling. All in one day! Danger likes to follow you around."
"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked with a glare.
Natsu laughed. "Don't worry, I like danger. But promise me you won't get into anymore trouble today, okay?"
"It's not like I purposely –"
"Promise," he said, this time with a serious expression which dumfounded Lucy.
"I promise," she told him, looking him straight in the eye. He looked so somber, as if he really cared for her and her safety although they had only known one another for such a short amount of time. She also realized how close his face was to hers. She could hear him breathing evenly and his breathe smelt sweet like the cupcakes he'd eaten. He seemed to be inching closer to her, or was it the other way around? It was almost as if…
"Natsu!" a voice shouted from in front of them. They both jumped and Lucy nearly banged her nose against Natsu. Who was that who spoke? It was extremly strange that someone had spoken, considering the fact that they were over 12 feet up in the sky.
Lucy whipped her head away from Natsu. "What the- Happy?!"
"Do not confuse me for that tomcat!" the cat angrily shouted at her.
Yes, this cat certainly wasn't Happy. Or… happy. The cat was female, for one, and had white-pink fur with pink ears. Unlike Happy, she wore actual clothes too. She had a permanant scowl on her face with her arms crossed.
"What do you want, Charle?" Natsu asked the cat. He looked a little pink, like he was blushing.
Charle? This cat is the one who 'acts like Wendy's Mom'?
The cat turned her nose on Lucy and looked at Natsu. "Master Makarov wishes to have a word with you."
"What?" he asked with a dumfounded expression.
"He wants to talk to you before the show starts," Charle bluntly said and then rolled her eyes. "Incompetent fool. Why must Wendy insist of calling you her brother?" she muttered to herself. "I must go now," she told them. "I left Wendy in the care of that male cat and I don't fully trust him." Without another word she gracefully flew away.
"So that's Charle," Lucy said in awe.
"Yep."
"She's a little, uh…"
"Rude? Yeah. But she's good to Wendy, so we have to put up with her."
Lucy looked away from Charle, her figure getting smaller and smaller as she flew away to the tent, to look at Natsu. "So, the show's about to start, right?" she asked, trying to mask her melancholy.
"Yeah, I'm pumped."
"And then you have to perform again tomorrow," Lucy continued, letting the sad frown form on her face. "And then you leave."
Natsu looked at her with his coal black eyes widened. It made her think about how cute he really was. Oh, you baka! She cursed herself. The passenger car jolted as the Ferris wheel continued to move, taking them back down.
She gulped down her sadness, cursing herself for getting anxious over something so small and mediocre. This was Natsu, a guy she'd only known for a few hours. He was hardly even a friend, right?
"The carnival closes in ten minutes. Please make your way to the exit or the tent to watch the circus show."
As you've maybe guessed, this story isn't completely AU. Sorry for the late update, I swear I'll make it up to you!
Any questions or critic, feel free to say.