"Lucy! I need... I mean... I have to ask... that is... there is something I must discuss with you!" Erza Scarlet slammed open the door to Lucy's room, rousing her blond friend from slumber.
"Erza?" Lucy sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes. She glanced out the window. "Erza, the sun is barely up. It's still dark outside."
"Yes, I am aware, but I needed to-" Erza stopped, her eyes fixated in Lucy's direction.
"Erza? Something wrong?" Lucy worriedly moved to pull off her blanket, revealing-
"Lucy? Who is it that?" Erza had thought the person-shaped lump under the blankets had just been her imagination, but there was definitely someone else lying next to Lucy. Their face wasn't in her line of view, and the room was too dimly lit for her to properly see the figure's body shape. That's a girl, right? It must be. Did Levy sleep over? No, too big. Cana, maybe?
""Hmm?" Lucy looked down, as if just noticing she wasn't alone. Then she snorted, and said, in a slightly annoyed tone, "Natsu, of course." Climbing out of bed, Lucy pulled something out of her closet.
"Wha- but- how- I-" Erza stammered, her face as scarlet as her name. She stood in the door, frozen in place, for a minute or two as she tried to process what, exactly, Natsu Dragneel was doing in a single woman's bed this early in the morning.
"Umm, are you okay?" Lucy asked, emerging, fully dressed, from her bathroom. "You want to tell me why-" Erza suddenly snapped out of her thoughts, stormed over to the bed, and dragged the still-sleeping Natsu up by his scarf.
"Huh?" Natsu said, blinking awake, "G'mornin', Erza. Wha-"
"Natsu Dragneel, explain yourself right this instant!" Natsu tilted his head in confusion.
"I dunno what you're talking about, but-"
"What are you doing here at this hour of the morning?" No longer blushing, Erza's face shone with pure rage.
"Uh, I was sleepin' with Lucy, same as always." Natsu appeared completely bewildered, as if wondering why Erza cared where he slept.
"Same as always?!" If it was possible, Erza looked even more angry now. "Just how often, exactly, do these liaisons occur?"
"I don't know 'bout any layay-whatsits, but I guess I'm over here a couple times a week? Maybe?" Natsu looked nervous, clearly hoping he wasn't about to get punched for having an unsatisfactory answer.
"EXCUSE ME?!" Erza screetched, pulling him up further.
"Um, Erza, I think you're mis-"
"Hush, Lucy, while I deal with this shameless rake!" Erza snapped. "I might have expected something like this from Gray, but I would have thought you were better than this, Dragneel."
"Erza, I dunno what you're yelling about, but you're kinda choking me-"
"What's goin' on?" A fourth voice, bleary from sleep, came from the direction of the comfy chair. "Why's Erza here?" The blue Exceed flew over to the bed.
"And you brought Happy with you?!" Erza's voice raised even louder, "Bad enough you chose to act this shameless, but now you're exposing Happy to such wanton behavior? This is absolutely unacceptable!" Completely disgusted, she dropped Natsu onto the floor.
Natsu stood up rubbing his head, but didn't say anything.
"Natsu Dragneel, get dressed right this instant," Erza said, her voice low and cold. "And Lucy, go put on your shoes."
Lucy looked totally lost, but she did as she was told.
"We goin' somewhere?" Natsu asked, throwing on his shirt. "'Cause I don't think anything'll be open this early, and-"
"Be quiet, scoundrel," Erza snapped, "Now come!"
Grabbing Natsu with one hand and Lucy with the other, Erza dragged them outside and through the streets as Happy flew behind them.
"Um, Erza?" Lucy asked cautiously, as if worried she'd be snapped at again, "Why are we here?" They stood in front of one of the largest and most imposing buildings in Magnolia: Kardia Cathedral. The towering silver structure loomed upwards as if daring them to enter.
"We are here," Erza said commandingly, "So Natsu can take responsibilty for dishonoring you in such a horrendous fashion."
Natsu looked even more confused than ever. Lucy, however, paled, and then quickly blushed, finally understanding what Erza wanted.
"Erza, there's really no need for this," she said quickly. "Natsu didn't do anything-"
"Of course there's a need," Erza said, banging on the cathedral doors, "Don't make excuses for him, Lucy. Natsu should have known better than to act in such a disgraceful fashion."
The cathedral door cracked open, revealing a sleepy-looking clergyman.
"What are you folks doing here this early?"
"I apologize for disturbing you, sir," Erza said politely. "Would you mind performing a ceremony for these two?" The robed man's eyes widened momentarily. Then he smiled and nodded, waving all four of them inside.
"Hey Lucy," Natsu whispered as they followed Erza into the cathedral. "You have any idea what we're doing in this place?"
"Sort of," Lucy muttered back, "I think Erza wants us to get married."
Natsu tilted his head in consideration. Then he shrugged. "Alright, why not?" Lucy gaped at him.
"Seriously? That's your reaction?"
"Well, I don't think we have any other option," Natsu said, "It's not like it'll kill us or anything." He shrugged again.
"That's not the problem here!" Lucy hissed, scowling at him. She gave Happy a speculative look, then sighed.
Once they'd reached the inner sanctuary, Erza turned back to look at them. Then she gasped.
"Lucy! You can't wear that!"
"Huh?" Lucy looked down at her outfit- a simple shirt and skirt, same as every other day.
"Would you give us a moment, sir?" The man nodded as Erza dragged Lucy into a side room.
"Erza, please, this is-"
"Not the outfit a woman wants to wear to her wedding, I agree," Erza said, summoning several white dress and shoving them at her. "Here, try these on. Hopefully one of them will fit. I don't suppose any of your spirits can do quick clothing alterations?"
"Yeah, Virgo's great at them, but-"
"Perfect," Erza said, "Summon her."
"Erza, I really don't think-" Erza gave her a look, and Lucy quickly summoned Virgo.
"How many I be of assistance, Princess?" Virgo bowed politely.
"Virgo, would you please-"
"Virgo, which of these do you think would look the nicest on Lucy?" Erza held up four different dress.
"Are you getting married, Princess?"
"Not exa-"
"The top of this one would be most flattering for Princess's figure," Virgo said, inspecting the dresses, "But I think the skirt of that one is much nicer."
"Can we combine them?" Erza asked.
"I believe so," Virgo said. With a few quick movements, she attached the elegant top of the first dress with the full, lacy skirt of the second, and tailored the dress to fit Lucy perfectly.
"This is very pretty, Virgo," Lucy said, admiring the dress despite herself, "However-" She was interrupted by Erza shoving the dress on her. By the time she could see anything besides white fabric, Virgo was gone.
"Now, which spirit was the one who does your hair?"
"Cancer, but-" Lucy sighed and summoned Cancer.
Cancer and Erza spent a few minutes debating different hairstyles before settling on what Lucy had to admit was a very elegant looking braid-crown.
Finally, Erza deemed Lucy's appearance satisfactory, and the two of them emerged from the room they'd disappeared to.
They returned to the main room to find Natsu inspecting one of stained-glass windows (probably wondering whether he could try eating glass and whether different colors would taste different from each other).
"Ah, are we ready now?" The poor clergyman looked far less exhausted now that it was actually a reasonable hour for people to be up and about.
"Yes, we should start the ceremony," Erza said.
Before Lucy could utter yet another futile protest, the robed man was speaking, the words of the traditional Fiorian wedding ceremony pouring from his lips.
When it was time for the rings, Lucy was surprised to see Erza pull two simple silver bands out of nowhere (why did she even have those?) and hand one to each of them.
Natsu spoke the binding words when prompted and slipped his ring on her finger, leading Lucy (though rolling her eyes at the stupidity of the whole situation) to do the same thing at her turn.
Next thing she knew, a pen was being shoved into her hand so she could sign the marriage license, and they were being pronounced husband and wife.
As customary, the moment he said the final words, the cathedral bells rang, loud chimes ringing throughout the city. Lucy bit back a groan.
"By the way, Lucy," Natsu whispered, "What's with that ridiculous dress? Not the kind of thing you normally wear, is it?" Lucy looked tempted to slap him.
Once Lucy had taken her hair down and changed back into her regular clothes (she kept the ring on, if only because she was nervous as to how Erza would react to seeing it missing), the four of them headed towards the guild.
Lucy pulled Natsu a few feet behind Erza so she could talk to him without the red-head's interference.
"Don't worry, we'll get this fixed later," she said. Natsu looked baffled.
"Whad'ya talking about?" He asked, running a hand through his pink locks. Lucy held up her hand, indicating the ring on her finger.
"This, Natsu!" She hissed. "Once Erza's distracted, we'll head back and get this annulled. Make it like this whole stupid morning never happened."
"Why would we do that?" Natsu asked tilting his head.
"Ummm, because neither of actually planned on this whole 'being dragged out of bed ridiculously early in the morning to have a forced wedding' thing?"
"So?" Natsu crossed his arms, "Even if it wasn't the plan, it happened, didn't it? No sense pretending otherwise."
"'No sense pretending otherwise?' Natsu, we're talking about marriage," Lucy said, glaring at him, "It's not something to get into spur-of-the-moment. We're talking about spending the rest of our lives with each other, here. This is something you actually have to think about."
Natsu paused at that for a moment, his expression thoughtful.
"Alright," he said.
"Alright, we can go get this fixed later?" Lucy looked almost hopeful.
"No, alright, I thought about the whole marriage thing," Natsu said.
"And?" Lucy crossed her arms.
"And I think it's a good idea."
"What?!" Lucy whisper-yelped.
"Why not?" Natsu shrugged. "You said it was about spending the rest of our lives together, right?"
"Yeahhhhhhh," Lucy said slowly, not sure she liked where this was going.
"Well, I already figured that was the plan," Natsu said, "I just never thought of that as 'marriage.' Makes as much sense as anything else, though."
A tear slipped down Lucy's cheek.
"Natsu," Erza said, turning around as though she had a built-in censor for such things. "You'd better not be making Lucy cry already."
"No, ma'am," he said. Erza nodded and turned back to face the direction they were headed. They were only a few blocks from the guild.
"Don't cry, Lucy," Natsu said, sighing. "If it's really that important to you, we can get it 'fixed.' I just thought-"
"You were really planning on spending the rest of your life with me?" Lucy asked, another tear trickling down her face.
"Yeah, obviously," Natsu said, "I told ya I wouldn't leave you again, didn't I?" He clearly didn't understand what the issue was. "But like I said, we don't have to call that 'marriage' if ya don't wan-"
He never finished his sentence.
"You two," Erza said, turning back around when she realized they'd stopped walking, "We are in public."
"Sorry, Erza," Lucy said, unhooking her arms from around Natsu's neck and pulling away. "We just-"
"Yes, yes, save it for later," Erza said, "But maybe we can actually get to the guild sometime today? Maybe share the happy news with the rest of the family?"
Lucy's eyes widened in horror as she wondered how, exactly, she was going to explain this one.
"Morning, guys," Levy said, running up to the four of them before dragging Lucy and Erza over to the bar. (Natsu, who was holding onto Lucy's hand, was dragged along.)
"So, did you hear the bells, Lu-chan?" Levy asked, an expression of curiousity on her face.
"Yeah..." Lucy said, not meeting her friend's eyes. Levy didn't seem to notice.
"They don't have funerals in the morning," Levy said, "So it must have been someone getting married."
"I didn't hear anything about any weddings planned for today," Mirajane said from behind the counter, "It was probably something else."
"Maybe it was a surprise wedding," Lisanna said, "You know, an elopement or something?"
"At Kardia Cathedral?" Cana scoffed, "People who are eloping run off to some small town where they can't be found, not one of the most famous churches in Fiore. If they were running off, they wouldn't do it somewhere so noticeable."
"Juvia thinks perhaps the person who proposed didn't want their beloved to change their mind, so they rushed them off to get married right away!"
"This entire argument is ridiculous, as I've been saying since we heard those bells," Carla interjected. "Magnolia is a fairly big city- even if they did signal a wedding, it's highly unlikely that we'll ever find out, since we probably don't even know the people involved."
"So what do you think, Lucy?" Wendy asked.
"Well, actually," Lucy said, looking at Natsu, Erza and Happy. "We just came from there."
"Really?" Levy looked at them, surprise on her face, "So you can tell us then? Was it a wedding? Anyone we know? If it was, why didn't we know about it?"
"It'd probably be easier to tell everyone at once," Erza said.
"You're right," Lucy groaned, "Natsu, would you like to do the honors?" Natsu beamed.
"Hey, everybody!" Natsu said, letting go of Lucy's hand to jump up onto one of the barstools. "Guess what?"
The tumult in the guild paused as everyone turned to look at Natsu, wondering what was going on. Gajeel and Elfman quit their arm wrestling, Macao and Wakaba paused whatever argument they were in the middle of, Romeo stopped the fiery trick he was showing Asuka, Makarov looked up from the mountain of paperwork he was reading through, and Gray (who was, as usual, half-naked) yelled, "Whad'ya do this time, flame brain?"
"Me 'n Lucy got got hitched this morning!" Natsu held up his hand, showing off his ring as proof.
"WHAT!?" The entire guild (minus Natsu, Lucy, Erza, and Happy) yelped in unison.
Much, much later, after plenty of demands for an explanation (Erza was tactful enough to avoid telling what she thought was the truth, and Lucy had already persuaded Natsu that telling their friends they got married "under pain of Erza" would not be a good idea), protests that they weren't telling them the whole story ("We just woke up, decided to head for the church, and brought Erza along to be our witness"), and, of course, in true Fairy Tail fashion, celebratory partying, Lucy realized something.
"Hey, Natsu," she asked, pulling him off to the side, "Do you remember why Erza decided to crash into my apartment so ridiculously early in the morning, anyway?"
"Nah, I think I was sleeping when she got there." Lucy nodded.
"I think... she came barging into the room, yelling that there was something she needed to discuss... but then you distracted her."
"Makes sense," Natsu said.
"I should probably go ask her what her issue was," Lucy said, pulling away. Natsu grabbed her wrist and sniffed the air.
"She left already," he said, "I guess whatever it is can wait for tomorrow."
"Guess so," Lucy said, shrugging. "Maybe it wasn't that important?"
"Mmm," Natsu mumbled noncomittally as he leaned down to whisper in her ear, "It's getting kinda late. Whad'ya say we follow her lead and get outta here?"
Lucy nodded, a small blush coloring her cheeks.
As quickly and quietly as possible, they snuck out of the guild hall and headed out.
"Your place or mine?"
"Yours, I think," Natsu said, "And then maybe tomorrow we can get start on moving all your stuff over to my house?"
"I'd like that," Lucy said.
Hand in hand, the newlyweds headed for home.
It wasn't until she started walking in the direction of the girls' dorms that Erza remembered.
"Oh my goodness," she said, her eyes widening. Then she broke out into a run, headed towards the woods on the edge of town.
"Forgot about me already, huh?" The person waiting there raised an eyebrow.
"Well, there was... I mean... I ran into... I had to..." She tried to figure out exactly how to explain just what it was that had caused her to completely forget there was someone waiting to hear back from her. "Natsu and Lucy got married."
"Really?" The hooded figure's eyes widened. "Those two? I didn't realize..."
"Yeah, it came as a bit of a surprise to everyone," Erza said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "I was there. As a witness, I mean. It was just a quiet little ceremony at-"
"Kardia Cathedral. So that's why they rang the bells," he nodded. "I'd wondered."
Erza looked away, not sure what else to say.
"So," he said, "In all of the chaos that I'm sure occured both on the way to the church and at the guild hall once everyone else found out, did you figure out what it is you want to do now?"
She brushed another loose hair back, suddenly remembering that she'd forgotten to brush her hair that morning.
"I think..." she said, looking her visitor in the eye. "That, as a hardworking S-class mage with a perfectly competent team, two of whom just got married and will probably be occupied with other things for the near future, I am perfectly entitled to a vacation."
"Oh?" He raised both eyebrows.
"I also think that, considering the nature of my job," she continued, "I've gotten pretty used to traveling around Fiore and wouldn't be opposed to doing some more."
"Seems reasonable," he said, nodding.
"And, I think," she said, looking back at the city, "That it's still early in the evening and there's probably still someone up working at Kardia Cathedral. Possibly even the nice gentleman I met there this morning."
"Do you?" He smiled. "If I recall, you said you were there as a witness. Who would you suggest as yours?"
"I'll do it," came a third voice from the bushes.
"Happy?" Erza yelped. "What are you doing here?"
"I was headed for the house," Happy said, "Natsu's with Lucy tonight, so I decided to go home on my own, but then I saw you and decided to find out where you were going, instead."
Erza sighed.
"Makes sense," the hooded figure nodded, "Erza can be very interesting. Now if, I heard correctly, you just volunteered to come with us to Kardia Cathedral?"
"Aye, sir." Happy saluted.
It was sometime the next afternoon when Natsu and Lucy showed up at the guild, finally finished moving everything.
"Has anyone seen Erza?" Lucy asked. "There was something I wanted to ask her about."
"Erza's gone," Happy said, looking up from his fish.
"WHAT?" "GONE!?" "SHE LEFT?!" All over the hall, people paused what they were doing, curious as to what had happened to the scarlet-haired mage. Cana put down her beer, Mira looked up from the counter she was wiping down, Nab turned away from the request board, and Levy pulled her nose out of her book.
"Not forever," Happy said, "She said to tell everyone that she'd earned a vacation, and that she'll be back in a few weeks."
A few people nodded at that. If anyone deserved a break, it was Erza.
"When'd she tell ya all this, buddy?" Natsu asked, giving Happy a curious look.
"Last night, at the church," Happy said, going back to his fish.
"And what was Miss Scarlet doing at the church last night?" Panther Lily asked.
"Getting married, of course," Happy said laughing. "Didn't you hear the bells?"
And that, of course, was when the guild descended into complete and utter chaos. Again.