Ni Hao, Konnichiwa, Bonjour, Hiya! Hehehe hope you enjoy this chapter, I had fun writing it. :3
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"I am not wearing that!" Lucy yelled, trying to escape by hiding behind racks of clothing. Too bad Erza was pretty much tailing her the whole time.
"Not or never? Cause you could always wear it tomorrow when… you know, we bring you to Sparky?" Natsu commented holding up a slinky stage outfit.
"Please let me escape from this hell hole, I'll do anything… please!" she whispered, holding her hands and a prayer and squeezing her eyes shut.
"Oi! How 'bout this?" Gajeel held up a tight fitting bunny costume.
"No way! How the hell are you even finding these clothes?!" Lucy screamed, emitting a dark aura.
"You could wear nothing." Gray shrugged.
"Says the stripper." Natsu snorted.
"What did you say, flame brain?" Gray asked head butting Natsu.
"Stop fighting! We have important things to do here! Unless you want Laxus to bring that whore into our band!" Erza screamed, needing to blow off some steam.
"A-aye!" the two embraced each other closely, then realized and shoved them off each other and ran off, disappearing into the many racks of clothes.
"Why don't you look for something to wear yourself?" Jellal, who had been standing there quietly, suggested.
"I pick what I'm wearing right now." Lucy pointed to her baggy clothing.
"Something other than that. It's better than letting the others choose for you." Jellal sighed.
"Fine…" she caved in, walking off.
Erza followed after her, but not before giving a small smile of thanks to Jellal, causing him to blush profusely.
"So Erza, what kind of clothes are they going to call…" Lucy paused, trying to find the right word, "acceptable?"
"Anything but what you're wearing, formal clothes and business clothes… probably." Erza said, "But you should buy some formal dresses anyway. You'll need them to attend parties and such."
"I see… does that mean I can wear my super fluffy slippers and my favourite blue pyjamas?" she asked.
"No." Erza looked at her sharply, not sensing her sarcasm.
"Forget I asked." Lucy sighed, brushing her hand across a pair of heels, "But what about them? What do Natsu and the others wear?"
"Pretty much what they're wearing right now… except maybe Gray." Erza looked around, "GRAY PUT YOUR GODAMN CLOTHES ON." She spotted the said stripper and yelled at him.
"Well, I'm guessing I have to try these one first… so I'll be back." Lucy held up a small pile of clothes resting neatly in her arms.
"WHAT?! You need more than that!" Erza exclaimed and quickly rushed around the store, picking up articles of clothing and stacking them onto Lucy's pile and then pushed her into a changing room, closing the curtain and standing in front of it expectantly.
"I can't wear this!" a scream came from behind the curtain and Erza pulled it open to reveal a hunched up Lucy, "It's too revealing…" she quivered.
"Come on, just let me see. I'm sure you don't have that bad of a figure." Erza pulled Lucy up and studied her.
She was wearing a baby blue boat neck top which had sleeves running up to her elbows, flaring out loosely at the ends. The shirt ended just under her boobs, revealing a toned, flat stomach. She still donned her baggy jeans and old sneakers, being too embarrassed after only being able to put the (very tight) top on, her breasts almost popping out.
"You look like a wannabe skater chick." Erza scowled, stepping back out of the changing room, she quickly pointed to a few articles of clothing, telling Lucy to try those on, before closing the curtain on her again.
Inside, Lucy gingerly picked up the clothes Erza had pointed at, asking herself why she'd agreed to this in the first place.
Sighing, she quickly changed, feeling bad that Erza was still waiting outside. Casting a quick glance in the mirror, she grimaced at her reflection before pulling open the curtain, causing Natsu to look over from his conversation with Erza.
"You look… different." Natsu scratched the tip of his nose, then saw Lucy's embarrassed expression before hastily adding, "I-in a good way of course."
"I feel different." Lucy grumbled, looking down at the floor.
She had changed into a forest green tank top with a white leather jacket over it. She wore a black choker and a shirt navy blue skirt. Lastly, she had brown, knee-high leather boots on, with a small heel.
"Not bad, bunny girl." Gajeel commented, the rest of the band having come over.
"Great, we'll buy that. Try on a formal set too." Erza pushed her back into the changed room and smiled slightly in triumph. Turning back to the boys, she crossed her arms.
"Looks like, we have a new band member." She announced.
"But what if Sparky says no?" Gray said, ruining the moment.
"We won't let him… I'm all fired up!" Natsu cheered.
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"No."
"Why not?!" the band shouted.
"Because I already made my final decision yesterday." Laxus shrugged.
"But you said she wasn't coming until tomorrow!" Natsu whined.
In the corner of the room, Lucy stood quietly listening to the argument play out. She'd refused to take off the bulky jacket she wore, which is probably why Laxus had said no anyway.
Before entering his office, Lucy had complained the outfit was too skimpy and they'd made a deal that she didn't have to take off her jacket.
Flashback-
"Remind me why I'm doing this again?" Lucy asked.
"Because, secretly, deep inside, you want to." Natsu gave her a goofy smile.
"And this, is why I hate you." She huffed, "At least let me keep the jacket on. Without it, I feel violated… exposed."
"Fine, fine. But we're making you join no matter what."
End-
"Ah, here she is." Laxus cut her thoughts as there was a knock on the door.
"Here who?" Gray raised an eyebrow.
"IGNITE, why don't you meet Karen Lillica? She is your new band mate." Laxus smirked and leaned back into his chair.
"You have got to be kidding me." Natsu grumbled, looking at the greenette up and down.
Karen was probably your typical… whore. She was wearing the skimpiest clothes possible, her breasts almost falling out of her t-shirt. (It wasn't even a t-shirt; it was more like a bra… on top of another bra.)
"Some on puh-lease get me a coffee." She drawled out and a strange, whiny voice, almost as if she had a blocked nose.
"Uh, no-one is getting you a coffee. If you want one, do it yourself." Natsu growled.
"Ex-squeeze me? I am Karen Lillica, from IGNITE?" She glared at Natsu with narrowed eyes.
"Yeah, and I'm Natsu Dragoneel, LEAD SINGER from IGNITE." He said back sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
"Oh my gosh!" her attitude took a 360 turn, "Hi, I'm your new FEMALE lead singer for your band! It's SO nice to meet you guys! Did you want any coffee? I'd gladly go out of my way to get you some." She gushed.
"Sorry, but no. We don't. In fact, we'd like you to leave." Erza stepped up and looked at Karen with menacing eyes.
"And who – oh! You must be Erza Scarlet, I must say, I love your name, it totally matches your hair!" she now exclaimed.
"No one is joining our band, unless they can sing, slut." Gajeel crossed his arms.
"Well, duh, of course I can." Karen boasted, and then broke out into song.
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"I can't believe we had to agree to that." Nastu groaned, shuddering slightly.
"But it's better than no Lucy." Gray shrugged, slightly disheartened as well.
"Did you see the look on her face when she realized Lucy was even there though?" Jellal chuckled.
"Well, we have a debut song to write, so why not get started and get this over and done with?" Lucy suggested, secretly happy she wouldn't be the one on stage.
After a long argument exceeding one hour, the band and Laxus had come to an agreement that Lucy would sing and write the songs with the band while Karen would just be the cover girl, meaning she 'sang' at the concerts and earned most of the profits, but some would also go to Lucy, since it was only fair that Lucy earned something too.
"Fine, fine. Let's go." Gray said, leading the way towards 'The Spot'.
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I've been waiting all my life to sing that song,
And the lights turn on with the crowd cheering me on,
I never said, let me do this all alone,
What I meant was help me along,
Say you talk the talk,
But can you walk it all the way,
I'm in the SPOTLIGHT! Hey!
Now don't get me wrong,
Come on lets IGNITE,
From dusk 'till the dawn,
And we'll rock on, and on, and on, and on,
In the SPOTLIGHT
Now I'm here with fire inside me,
A burning passion with no secrets behind me,
(Oh whoa oh oh oh)
Say you talk the talk,
But can you walk it all the way,
I'm in the SPOTLIGHT! Hey!
Now don't get me wrong,
Come on lets IGNITE,
From dusk 'till the dawn,
Cause we will rock, on and on,
And just let it go! (LET IT GO)
I'm in the SPOTLIGHT!
"Perfect!" Lucy said, quickly scrawling down the last of the lyrics to match the tune they'd already made.
"Yeah, perfect to fit a stuck up girl like her." Gray snorted. He was leaning against the wall, arm crossed and a scowl covering his face.
"Well, all we have to do now is recording me singing it!" Lucy ignored Gray and picked up the sheet of paper, and then walked towards the recording booth.
Natsu quickly followed after her and helped her set up, while the rest of the band came in after her to warm up their instruments.
Erza and Loke sat on the other side of the booth and gave the usual signal. Since Natsu wasn't singing this song, he'd also ducked out of the room soon after the join the cake-lover and player.
"Let's do our best." Jellal nodded curtly, making Gajeel grunt and start off the beat.
Lucy, who was looking extremely nervous, took a deep breath and tried to sing when the time came, but no sound came out.
Choking, she started coughing, causing the microphone to make a sharp, shrill sound.
"Ah! I'm so sorry, my voice caught in my throat because I was so nervous. I don't even know why, I mean it's not like this is a real concert or anything, I'm just recording right? Karen is the one performing this onstage… I'm so sorry, and I said I'd try my best too…!" Lucy quickly rambled.
"It's alright… take two." Jellal sweat dropped.
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:. Time skip two days after Karen's debut concert .:
"Guy's quick! It's Karen-sama from IGNITE!"
"Think I'd score a date with her?"
"No way! She's always clinging on to Natsu in public and in photos. It's no surprise that the two would fall in love."
It had only been a couple of weeks after Laxus had been at a press conference and had announced the new comings of Karen Lillica joining IGNITE and only two days after her promotional debut concert.
A large amount of the male population had already joined the rapidly growing fan club and now it was not only girls fawning over the (now not boy) band.
Across the road, in a small café, sat Lucy (back to wearing her normal, oversized outfits) and her three best friends.
"Karen seems a little fake, don't you think?" Cana said, taking a chug from her alcohol.
"Yeah, you won't expect such a sweet voice from her, you'd think it would be a bit more raspy or something. You know? to match her looks." Levy nodded in agreement.
"I think she's fake too. I mean, if you look close enough, she clings onto Natsu, but she always looks like she's flirting with the others." Lucy chipped in, hoping she didn't seem too suspicious.
Erza had specifically told her not to tell anyone else about their connection, for one, it would blow Karen's cover and ruin IGNITE's reputation, but also, it would be bad if the word got out and press started chasing after her.
"Jealous, are we?" Cana teased.
"W-what? No way!" Lucy flushed, remembering every time Natsu had stood up for her in the span of three days.
"Juvia thinks she has too many fans for just becoming famous a few weeks ago…" Juvia frowned slightly, as if deep in thought.
"But then again, IGNITE was already famous before that." Levy said.
"If you think about it, Karen was probably added for boy fans, not increase the girls. Guy's have nothing to do with the band otherwise."
"Except for Gray-sama and the others." Juvia had hearts in her eyes.
"The press conference with Sparky in it was all over the news though." Lucy said absentmindedly.
"Sparky?" Levy raised an eyebrow.
"U-uh… yea… Uh, I mean you know? The company is called SPARK after all.. hehehe right? Get what I mean?" Lucy tried to laugh it off.
"I guess so…" Cana said, disbelief obvious in her voice, "Anyway, so did you get a new job or something? Usually you'd be begging us to pay for you by now."
"Ah, well no… Not really. I mean. I sort of have a job?" Lucy tried to explain.
"Did you finally find a job where you don't meet new people?" Levy asked.
"Uh, yeah. I ah… became one of those umm… mascots at the amusement park." Lucy stuttered.
"Really? Like those people who dress up in a costume handing out balloons to little kids?" Levy said in surprise.
"Juvia wants to know what you have to dress up in."
"A… a… a bunny." Lucy huffed, banging her head on the table.
"Ooh! Lucy's a bunny girl!" Levy teased playfully.
"Please don't call me that." Lucy begged.
"Bunny girl! Bunny girl!" her friends stated chanting.
"I hate you all!" she wailed.
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"So, like, I totes think that I should be on the front cover of my next album." Karen said, inspecting her nails.
"You mean, OUR next album." Nastu corrected.
"Whatever." Karen rolled her eyes.
"Any way, one of you needs to call Lucy in. A manager from PULSE's Entertainment wants you to write an opening theme song for their upcoming series that's going to be released on TV in a few months." Erza said, reading off her clip board.
"Uh, excuse me? But I'm right here, and you want someone who, might I say, ISN'T in IGNITE to write our songs? Even if she wrote my debut song, doesn't mean she performed it, and I got all the credit anyways." Karen exclaimed.
"You can sing!?" Gray said sarcastically dramatic.
"Well, duh! Why else would I be here right now? Of course, besides my ravishing looks." Karen flipped her hair across her shoulder.
"Oh that's right, you were sent out of the room when we made the agreement." Erza said.
"What agreement?" Karen faced the scarlet haired woman sharply.
"Your microphone was turned off at the concert." Jellal said.
"WHAT?!" she screeched.
"You can't sing. Lucy helps us write the songs, and then we record it… with HER voice. You're lucky enough you earn the credit and money, so if you want to lose all that, I'd make sure not to blow our cover." Natsu said in a warning tone.
"Bu- b- what?" Karen spluttered.
"You're just our cover girl. Ok? Lucy is the real star here." Natsu said, "So if I were you, I'd stay out of the way and stop acting like I'm the top shit here."
"Ugh!" Karen stood up and stormed out of the room, the door slamming behind her.
"So, back to calling Lucy." Erza said.
"None of us have bunny girl's number." Gajeel grumbled.
"And we have no other way of contacting her so – " Gray was cut off by Natsu who stood standing by the window.
"Ah, you see. That's where you're wrong, Ice Princess." Natsu ushered the group over and jabbed a finger towards a small group of giggling girls.
While the others were trying to recognise the group, Natsu had already grabbed a hat and sunnies off the couch and run outside.
"Oi! Natsu, wait up!" They called after him.
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"Hey! Luce!" someone called.
Lucy perked up and looked around for the owner of the familiar voice (and nickname).
"Over here." The voice said again, this time closer.
Lucy whirled around to face a poorly disguised man.
"Nat…" she started but caught herself in front of her friends, "Natsamune?" she quickly made up a name.
"Ah! Luce, what a surprise to see you here." Nastu said with fake innocence.
"Um, yeah, did you need something?" she blushed slightly.
"Hmmm? Now that I think about it… I do. I can see you're busy right now, so just give me your number and I'll call you later?" he peeped around Lucy and gave a friendly wave to her friends.
"Oh!" Lucy nodded understanding straight away. "Here." She said typing her number into his phone.
"Well, I'll be off then, see you!" he called rushing off again.
Lucy watched him leave and stood there in a daze until Levy pulled her out of it.
"Ne, ne, how do you know him? That's the first time you haven't stuttered in front of someone new."
"Uh… he's my co-worker? He dresses up as… a dragon! Yeah, a dragon. We hit it off really well on my first day." Lucy gave a high pitched fake laugh.
"Don't tell me you liiiiike him." Cana rolled her tongue.
"What? Never!" Lucy tried to deny.
"Looks like we're going to be engraving Bunny girl hearts Dragon on that tree now…" Lucy's friends looked at each other sneakily.
"No! Anything but that tree!" she exclaimed, horrified, yet with a deep blush on her face.
"Aww, come on, why not? All girls engrave their crushes name on that sacred tree." Levy smirked.
"It's called the tree of love for a reason!" Cana exclaimed.
"Juvia wrote Gray-sama's name on it a long time ago!" Juvia cheered.
"It's never going to happen anyway!" Lucy cried, covering her face with her hands.
"A-ha! So you do admit you like him!" Cana said.
"Shut up!"
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CHAPTER THREE :)