Chapter Three: Declarations
Fairy Tail Fanfiction
Characters owned by Hiro Mashima

A/N: Since this is an alternate universe, I don't think I'll be giving the characters their powers. Lol, sorry if it disappoints you but I just don't think it fits with my story. Why Happy can fly will be explained below. I'll try incorporating their traits as much as possible! Don't give up on me ;_;

….

"Luigi, these curly fries are the best! Why aren't you eating? Here, take some of my chicken, you look like you like oily stuff!"

"Aye! She does, Natsu!"

The said girl wasn't sure whether to be annoyed at 1) he had already forgotten her name or 2) he assumed she liked oily stuff, when she tried her best to avoid such foods to maintain her beautiful skin. Still, she could not refuse his offer as she slowly picked up the chicken wing, feeling the grease rub off her fingers as she took a small bite. She watched Natsu and Happy consume their food, making monstrous eating sounds as they fought over the last slurp of soda. She felt ketchup splatter on her face as Natsu took a big bite out of his burger, frowning as she quickly wiped the red sauce off her porcelain skin.

"Jeeze, don't you have manners?" She asked, stealing one of his fries and chewed delicately on the end. It had taken them a few minutes to find one of Natsu's favourite fast food restaurants, owned by a greasy old man who looked like he hadn't bathed for days. Although she was hesitant to order from him, Natsu had assured that he made the best food in town, and she was forced to trust his judgment when she placed her order.

However, she had only eaten a small portion of her lunch as she was too disturbed by the numerous stares she was getting from the crowd. Was it really that weird to eat lunch with a clown? Especially a clown that had pink hair, a floating cat, and was eating like there was no tomorrow? Lucy didn't see a problem. Sure, she was used to dining with men who knew the difference between a salad fork and an eating fork, but that didn't make her feel uncomfortable around Natsu. In fact, she found his presence enjoyable as she snuck another fry into her mouth, rolling her eyes as Natsu belched with happiness.

"Aaah, I'm so full!" He exclaimed, patting his stomach as he watched Happy clean his teeth. He loved eating at Smelly's, for the food was great and the owner was nice, despite the smell of rotten fish that leaked in from time to time. He noticed Lucy slowly take a bite out of his leftover fries and pushed the tray to her, amused as she shyly tried to deny them.

"It's okay, you can have them. I don't know why girls are so careful about their weight." He sighed as he looked at the sky. Man, he couldn't wait until he got to Fairy Tail. He wanted to wipe off his makeup and wear his regular clothes. He scratched his side, feeling itchy as he continued to watch Lucy eat. She was such a slow eater.

Lucy slowly munched the fries, feeling self conscious as she patted her cheek, trying to feel if there was a ketchup stain she missed. "What? Is there something on my face?"

"Why were you in the forest?"

Lucy blinked, swallowing her fry as she gave him a small smile. The moment of truth. She was beginning to feel nervous now, playing with the ends of her hair as she stared at her tray. What was she going to say? That she had felt unloved and wanted to escape her home? That she was unhappy?

"Did you get lost?" Natsu badgered, leaning his face closer as he narrowed his eyes, trying to read her facial expressions. She automatically leaned back, blushing at the closeness as she pushed his face away from hers. "You could say that," she stated, trying to laugh as another couple eyed them, curiously looking as the girl shifted her body closer to her boyfriend. "Is it just me or are we the centre of attention?"

Natsu ignored Lucy's question, furrowing his eyebrows as he looked at Happy, who was giving him an identical, worried expression. Something wasn't right. Why was she trying so hard to change the subject?

"Were you playing hide and seek and couldn't find your way out?" Happy asked, flapping his wings as he landed on Lucy's shoulder. She shook her head and shoved more fries into her mouth. Maybe if she just kept eating they would shut up and leave her alone. Frowning when she reached the bottom of the carton, she stood up and collected hers and Natsu's garbage. Happy fluttered back to Natsu as the two continued to watch her every move. She felt her stomach churn as she walked, threatening to regurgitate her food as the messy contents fell into the basket.

Quietly walking back to her seat, she sat with her hands on her lap, trying her best to ignore them as she stared at the graffiti on the table. Carved was the sentence, "Natsu and Happy's table", which made her chuckle as she ran her finger lightly through the words, tracing them until she reached the letter 'E'. The silence was unnerving, and it wasn't long until Lucy snapped and said, "What?"

"Why won't you tell us?" Natsu mumbled. His voice was surprisingly soft, which made Lucy look up and nervously scratch the back of her head. "I-I don't know." It was all she could say. She wasn't ready to tell them her problems; they had just met and were barely acquaintances!

"You want to hear a story?" Happy asked, trying to break the tension as he gave Lucy a half smile. Lucy nodded, and Happy turned to look at Natsu. By the way the duo exchanged looks; it looked like Happy was asking Natsu for permission, making Lucy feel intrigued as she leaned in closer. "What, what is it you want to tell me?" She asked as she tried to disguise her excitement. Her big, brown eyes glittered. She loved stories ever since she was a kid. She believed that stories helped shape who you were, so it was no surprise that she could hardly sit still when Happy cleared his throat.

"Natsu's foster father, Igneel, left Natsu when he was only five years old."

Lucy's mouth made an 'o' shape, her eyes widening as she turned to look at Natsu. The clown didn't say anything, allowing Happy continue as he watched people walk around the carnival.

"A-Am I allowed to hear-"

"It's okay. Happy, continue."

"Aye… he left him when he was young. It really hurt his feelings, as Igneel was the person who taught him everything."

Before Lucy's eyes could water, Happy broke into a grin and started to fly around. "But, Natsu is going to meet his father one day! It's why he joined Fairy Tail, so he could be famous and be the best performer ever! Then maybe his father will recognize and visit him! Perhaps even watch a show!"

The mood in the restaurant instantly changed as Natsu stood on his chair, placing one foot on the table as he roared, pumping his fist. "Igneel, I'm going to find you, just watch!" His infamous canines gleamed as he danced, making Lucy realize that Natsu had a very cute smile. It almost made her heart skip a beat, as she laughed along with the duo that pretended to juggle. Happy brought out his maracas and shook them as Natsu pretended to breathe fire.

"You guys…" She shook her head softly as another giggle elicited out of her mouth. She couldn't help but feel envious of Natsu's cheery personality. It made her wish that she could act positive around her father and not feel affected by his words. That, someday, she would be daddy's little girl instead of daddy's destined princess. She took a deep breath and placed money on the table. "Here, it's my treat. Thanks for showing me this restaurant."

In an instant, Natsu and Happy were bowing, their heads pressed against the floor as they clapped their hands in prayer mode. "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you! We are eternally grateful!" She sweat-dropped, feeling the heat rise to her cheeks as she tried to dismiss the issue. "Y-You guys! Not here! It's not a problem really…" She quickly left the restaurant, embarrassed, with the two hot on her tail.

….

As Natsu and Happy talked, Lucy stayed silent as she walked in the middle, deep in thought. It didn't look like Happy and Natsu were going to question her anymore, but she felt bad that Happy shared Natsu's life story so willingly. It made her feel that they had already trusted her, so she took another deep breath before spontaneously spinning around to face them. They blinked, before Natsu arched a rosy eyebrow. "What's up?"

"I ran away from home."

Before they could speak she continued. "My father doesn't care about me. All he cares about is money and can't think of anything else but how to expand the company. He was planning to wed me off to some weird guy who I've never met. Well I met him but I don't know him very well." It was as if something had came over Lucy, because once she started she didn't know how to stop. "So I told myself, 'I'm tired of this life' and decided to make an escape plan. It surprisingly turned out very well but I have no idea what I'm going to do. If you didn't find me in the forest, I would probably be starving to death right now or eaten by wolves."

Silence filled the air as a breeze gently caressed Lucy's gold locks. She was panting, trying to catch her breath as her cheeks burned from her adrenaline rush. She bit her bottom lip, playing with the hem of her shirt as she waited for a response. They just stared at her, their faces serious as they exchanged another set of looks. Oh man, they probably thought she was a loser. "I-I know it sounds weird, but I swear, it's the honest truth."

She watched as Natsu slowly approached her, closing her eyes as she anticipated the results. Were they going to laugh at her? Were they going to walk away, pretend that they didn't know this freak and ignore her for the rest of their lives? She felt a hand on her shoulder, making her flinch as she tried to push it away. It didn't budge. "N-Natsu?"

"You can join Fairy Tail."

"W-What?" She gave Natsu an incredulous look. "Are you serious?" She forced a laugh, ignoring the glimmer of hope that shined in her room of darkness. She was acting hysterical, clutching onto her stomach as she wiped an invisible tear. "You can't be serious." She was going to erupt into another series of laughter until she spotted the pink haired clown's all-too-serious face. She gulped. "I-I wouldn't be let in…" She mumbled, discovering that there was no point in pretending. They made her feel like an open book, easy to read and vulnerable to the public.

Natsu gave her a quizzical look and grinned. "Why not? I think you're pretty cool." Lucy felt herself blush, rolling her eyes when he said that. Jeeze. He continued, "And I'm pretty sure everyone will think you're cool too! C'mon! Let's ask for Master's approval!" With that, he grabbed Lucy's arm and ran towards the Circus, his grin spreading ear to ear as Happy flew beside them.

….

"WE'RE HOOOOOME!"

Various members of the circus greeted Happy and Natsu as the two stomped in, Lucy slowly trailing behind as she put her hands behind her back. She couldn't believe that she was back at the circus, as she scanned the audience for Mirajane. They were in another tent now, with tables set to make the place look like a bar. She grinned when she saw Mirajane behind the counter, who kindly waved at Lucy as she served a drink.

"Natsu, what's with the outfit? You look like you're going to scare children instead of greet them!"

"Shut up! I wasn't allowed to go outside with my normal clothes! I had to wear this."

All of a sudden, Natsu felt a gush of water hit him from behind, making him stumble as he spun around to glare at his attacker. He was sprayed again on the face, and he glubbed as the white make up began to drip. "D-Damnit!" He swore, wiping the rest of the makeup off as he glared at a white-haired girl. "What's your problem, Lisa?"

Lisanna giggled, turning off the hose as she happily skipped towards Natsu, ruffling his hair and cooed. "Awww Natsu, I was just helping you clean up! You can't speak to your future wife like that!" She teased, giggling as she pinched Natsu's cheeks, before walking towards the counter to speak to her sister.

Lucy blinked when Natsu's cheeks began to colour. For some reason, it was weird to watch Natsu blush. It gave her a weird feeling in her stomach, but she quickly dismissed it as she walked towards Mirajane, where the white haired girl was sitting. She was on a makeshift bar stool, happily chatting away as the older girl cleaned cups. The girl was cute and looked the same age as Lucy. She had short hair and was a few inches shorter than the blonde, her blue eyes twinkling as she watched Lucy come closer. "Hi!" The girl greeted, as she waved. "Are you new? I'm Lisanna!" Lucy returned the smile, before sticking out her hand for a handshake. "I'm Lucy; it's nice to meet you."

"Argh! I'm going to go change! Levi is going to kill me if she sees her costume soaking wet!" With this Natsu ran out of the tent, bumping into a guy in the process. "Hey, watch where you're going!" The man called, rolling his eyes as he sat on a barstool beside Lisanna. He looked at Lucy and smirked. "Say, who's this Lisanna? New girl?"

Lisanna turned around, gasped, and immediately hit the guy on the head. "Ow, what was that for?" He yelled, rubbing his head as he kept his eyes on Lucy. She began to blush, placing her hands over her eyes as she looked in the other direction. For the love of God, why wasn't he wearing clothes?

"Gray, where are your clothes?" Lisanna demanded, which made the guy curse as he tried to look around the tent. "Damnit, I swear I came with them on!" The guy named Gray stormed off, mumbling incoherent words as he picked up his pants from a table. Lisanna shook her head, staring in disbelief as she turned to look at Lucy, who still had her eyes covered. She giggled and slowly brought the girl's hands down. "It's okay; you can look now. He's not here anymore."

Lucy nodded, still blushing as she looked at Fairy Tail. The members were drinking and having a good time. Was everyone weird in this Circus? Mirajane cleared her throat, which got Lucy's attention as she glanced at the barmaid. She was smiling, looking at her clean cup one more time before setting it down. She winked. "So, I see you met Natsu." Both she and Lisanna giggled as Lucy sheepishly nodded. "Isn't he nice?"

"I-I guess…" The girl responded, cursing herself for stuttering as the dark haired male walked back, his clothes now on his body. He rubbed the back of his head and bowed in apology. "Sorry, I didn't mean to embarrass you like that. I'm Gray, what's your name?" As Lucy introduced herself, he took out a pair of cards and began to shuffle them. "I'm a magician; you want to see a trick? Alright, pick a card, pick any card!"

Lucy slowly picked up a card, and looked at the Queen of Hearts.

"Now put the card back into the deck." Lucy did so and Gray shuffled once more, the cards going back and forth from his hand. He looked like an expert, smiling as he threw the cards into the air before they fell into his sleeve. He gasped, pretending to look shocked as he looked inside his sleeves. "I'm sorry m'am, it seems I've lost your card! Would you mind taking this instead?" A dove suddenly peaked out of Gray's shoulder, making the girl squeal as it cooed.

"Wow, you're amazing!" Lucy exclaimed, clapping her hands as she watched the white bird fly around tables. All of a sudden, a large flame attacked the bird, making the animal squawk as it tried to avoid the flamethrower. "What the-" Gray glared to look at Natsu, who was laughing as he walked into the tent. He was now in a new set of clothes, his outfit reminding Lucy of Arabian nights as his open vest revealed his defined abs. Her eyes widened. Who would have thought that Natsu would be so toned? His arm muscles flexed as he took another swig at the large jug he was holding. He then burped out fire, laughing as Happy floated towards her.

"What's going on? I thought Natsu was a clown."

"Nah, he was only covering someone's shift. He's actually a fire breather! Cool huh?"

Lucy nodded, too distracted as she watched Gray storm over to Natsu, anger flashing in his eyes.

"What's the big idea birdbrain? You almost scorched my dove!"

"Tell your pigeon to stay out of my way!"

"It's a dove, those are two different creatures! Or are you too stupid to know that?"

"Nudist!"

"Fire breath!"

"Slanty eyes!"

"Droopy eyes!"

"Grrr…"

Sparks began to fly as the two stared each other down, gritting their teeth as their foreheads pressed hard against each other. Each boy had their fist tightened into a ball, and it didn't take long before Natsu made the first move. Punching Gray in the face, no one paid attention as the two rumbled, yelling at each other as a cloud of destruction began to form. Lucy's eyes widened, looking at Mirajane and Lisanna who just shrugged their shoulders. They continued to talk, and Lucy thought it was crazy that they were allowing these two boys to fight. Just as she was about to get off her chair, Erza walked in and quickly separated the two boys.

"What's going on?" She asked coolly, glaring at the two as they began to nervously look at each other. Oh shit. They began to laugh as Erza dropped them to the floor, quickly hugging as they wrapped their arms around each other's shoulders. "Nothing Erza, being buddies as always!" Gray patted Natsu on the back as Natsu pretended to give his "best friend" an endearing smile. "Yup, yup! We're getting along just fine…"

Seeing the confusion in Lucy's eyes, Mirajane explained before the blonde could ask questions. "They're both scared of Erza." Lucy didn't say anything, feeling quite nervous herself when she caught the sadistic look in the redhead's eyes. Was this really the same girl from before?

"Well if you guys are done being idiots," Erza began, crossing her arms over her chest as she looked at all the members inside the tent. "The master is coming." Automatically, people began to straighten their backs and finish the rest of their beers as a small, old man walked in. The room was silent as the Master walked to the bar and hopped on the counter, giving Mirajane a nod to acknowledge her. Lucy gulped, waiting to see what would happen next as she squeezed her hands.

"For the third night in a row, we did it! We have another full house tonight!" He exclaimed, and everyone cheered as they whooped and gave each other high fives. Natsu began to laugh and blew out another stream of fire, making Gray curse before realizing that he wasn't wearing his shirt. Seeing everyone laugh, Lucy smiled before catching the Master's eyes on her. She sucked in a breath.

"Who's this?"

Mirajane smiled and handed Makarov a mug of beer. "This is Lucy, Natsu brought her in." The old man didn't say anything as he sipped his beer. He then beckoned the fire breather to come over, and Natsu quickly obliged as he walked towards the rest of the group. He caught Lucy's eye and grinned, before asking the Master what was up. It was time.

"Natsu, why did you bring her here?"

"Luigi wants to join the circus!"

….

SHORT, RANDOM, BLURB.

"Hello, thank you for reading the third chapter of It's the Circus Life! I'm Lucy, the star of the show, and here's Happy to answer a very serious question."

"Aye!"

"So Happy, the fans want to know, why can you fly?"

"…"

"…"

"NATSU, LUCY'S BULLYING ME."

"WHAT?"

To be continued…