Yippie! Ima back!
This chapter will have a slight time skip in the middle, so this is pretty much the wedding chapter. Oh and, I didn't want to go too much over my 3,000 word limit, so I sorta am cutting the chapter in half...
Let's get straight to the point!
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"Mest, you there?" Lucy twiddled with her phone charm that Mira had given her from one of her trips.
"Yo? My niece? What's up?" his voice came through the phone speaker.
"Levy told me you were getting married." The blonde smiled, talking in a sing-song voice.
"You bet it. Grandine said she's going dress shopping tomorrow, you better be free." Mest said.
"Sure." Lucy grimaced slightly, she'd never been a big fan of dresses, but judging from the one time she'd met her uncle's fiancé, she'd most likely make a good choice, "Are you sure that she wants me as her bride's maid? I mean what about Wendy?"
"Wendy's a shy one." He chuckled, "Standing in front of all those people would turn her into a tomato. Anyway, she's going out with friends, so it's just you and Grandine."
"Alright… tomorrow what time?"
"10 am sharp. She'll probably drag you along to pick the invitation cards and cake, so I'd say wear some good ol' walking shoes."
"What?!" Lucy almost dropped her phone… just how long was she going to be shopping for? "That's too long!" she groaned, and then remembered something she'd been meaning to ask for a while. "Anyway… before I forget. What do you want for your wedding gift?"
"A surprise?" He smirked.
"Ugh," she flopped back on her bed, "You're no help." She hung up on him and sighed.
Recently, Levy had been avoiding her, they were slowly drifting apart, and she now had no one to really open up to.
"Levy, what's bothering you…?" she whispered to herself.
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"How about this red one?" Grandine held up a silk dress with white beads at the hem in the pattern of flaming swirls.
"Nice… but not my style. Red doesn't suit me… or purple, or orange… or purple… maybe just black, white or gray." she shrugged, looking at the colourful dresses surrounding her.
"Okay, okay." Grandine chuckled, "How about… half an hour to both find a dress, and we're not allowed to see each other until then?"
"Sure!" Lucy nodded along, she was more excited about seeing Grandine in her dress. If she had to pick her own dress to see Grandine's, then she would have to do just that.
Smiling, her eyes bright, Grandine hurried off to the bride's dresses section.
Sighing, Lucy turned around to face the many racks of dresses. It was time for World War III; Lucy vs. the bridesmaid's dresses. That was one against thousands.
Flicking through the first few dresses on a rack, she quickly dismissed it since the design was utterly, horribly frilly. The second rack showed promise, but she pulled away, since the colours weren't nice. The third rack… never mind that. She looked away in disgust, who would want a mustard yellow bride's maid dress?
Twenty five minutes and ticking. Still no dress, about fifteen racks of dresses left to look through.
Her search was stopped when she saw the perfect dress. Strapless a-line, royal blue, a silver sequinned bow right under her bust and the skirt flowed out just above her knee.
Checking the size of the dress, she took it off the rack and hurried on to the dress room; three minutes, forty eight seconds and counting left until the two were supposed to show each other their dresses.
Deciding the quickly tie her hair up in a bun, she rushed out of the changing room barefooted, her clothes thrown on the floor in the stall.
"Grandine." Her breath was taken away at the sight of Grandine in her wedding dress, seamstresses ran around her, adding touches onto the dress like a cliché dress fitting scene in a movie, "You look perfect."
The said woman smiled as she stepped down from the podium,
"So do you, Lucy. You found the right dress… it looks great on you."
"So… ready to get fat on cakes?" Lucy giggled, practically imagining Erza's jealousy.
"Who wouldn't be?" Grandine laughed along with her as she ushered her away to change back into her street clothes.
Soon they were changed back and heading out for the perfect cake.
"Oh, and for the invitations, what about beige with gold lining." Grandine said.
"Perfect." Lucy agreed not even knowing what beige was, "anyway, so about the cakes…" her stomach grumbled.
"I'm thinking red velvet or vanilla sponge…" Grandine chuckled, naming fancy cakes.
"Have you ever tried strawberry shortcake?" Lucy suggested.
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:. Time skip – 3 months .:
"Natsu, Gray, Gajeel and Jellal!"a well-dressed Erza almost broke the door down, banging on it, "We have to go. Now!"
It was the day of the celebration of the new T.V show 'To retreat'. IGNITE had to be there on the dot to perform ten minutes after arrival time.
"Yeah, yeah, we're ready, don't get your panties in a twist." Gray walked out, for once fully clothed.
"Well, we have to get going." Erza walked briskly to the elevator and pressed the down button.
"Alright! Let's do this!" Natsu pumped his fist.
"Calm down… we have a four and a half hour car ride to get through." Jellal sighed, already feeling a headache coming along.
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"Wendy, you nervous?" she smiled down at the younger girl in her white dress and a basket full of flowers.
"O-of course." She said shyly, shifting from one foot to another.
"Well you know what? Something my friend once told me to stop being nervous all the time. Pretend everyone is something you find funny." She grinned, "Look, I've got to get out there, so, good luck hey? Guess this makes you my cousin." She waved and quickly walked away. She didn't know who her partner was, but apparently he knew Grandine.
Walking around the corner, she came face to face with someone she knew. Some she knew all too well.
"LAXUS?!" she whisper shouted, trying not to be too loud in case someone heard her, "What are you doing here?"
"My Jiji is good friends with Grandine. You look nice, by the way. " He shrugged, peeking at her curves that she'd never shown him before. He soon quickly looked away, remembering the call he made in his drunken state ages ago.
"And you never told me?" she said, a blush spreading across her face as she recalled the phone call from a while back. She looked away quickly with a huff.
"Well, there was never a need to." He frowned, was it really that bad he was the best man?
"Whatever…" she huffed again as the music started in the typical bridal tune and the two blondes linked arms and started walking down the aisle.
Looking around, she saw more familiar faces.
"Is that… why is Rouge here?! And that blonde guy… I remember him from ages ago!" she hissed to herself.
"That's Sting, he's my brother… and Rouge is my cousin." Laxus, who had heard hissed back.
"Oh…" Lucy nodded in understanding… so many people were here, and it was starting to confuse her. She was now starting to regret her choice of a wedding gift, but she would have to do it anyway, since she told Mest.
All the courage she had gathered up was now crumbling as she reached the podium and stood off to the side.
As Grandine and her father walked up, Mest stood there, itching himself not to turn around until he felt her next to him. After what seemed like hours, they finally turned to face each other as a bright red glow spread across Mest's cheeks.
"You look… beautiful." He mouthed as the priest, who turned out to be Makarov Dreyar, cleared his throat.
Lucy tuned out the service as she looked around at all the guests. She barely recognised anyone, but smiled shyly to anyone who caught her eye.
Vows were exchanged and the two became husband and wife. Everyone stood up to applaud and a few people cried. People came swooping in, clearing the chairs and setting them up elsewhere to surround the tables and make a dance floor.
People turned around and started chatting with one another or milled around and congratulated the newly wed. A new tune resounded through the room as Grandine and Mest had their first dance, at first it was sweet and slow, but then a smirk appeared on Mest's lips as the beat became faster and the couple pulled the people surrounding them into their dance, causing them to yelp in surprise then laugh afterward.
Service continued and nearing the end, Mest came up to her, hugging her tightly.
"Thankyou so much for accepting to offer to look after Wendy while we're on our honey moon." he almost screamed.
"I-it's okay." Lucy sweat dropped. One night, Mest had called her, asking for some advice on the best place to go for their honey moon. One thing led to another, and somehow, Mest had managed to convince Lucy to take in Wendy when they were gone.
"So, you ready for your song? I'm really looking forward to it."
"Sure." Lucy said, nodding.
Mest flashed a smile before heading up to the podium to make an announcement.
"Ahem, excuse me, if you could all just listen up for a second. My niece has decided to sing a song for us as our wedding gift, also dedicated more the Grandine, my beautiful wife. So please be nice and give her a round of applause!"
Cheers thundered around the room as she gingerly stepped up onto the stage and took the guitar Mest handed her. She'd decided upon this present a long time ago, and spent time learning the guitar long ago, even if it meant sacrificing T.V time.
At the back of the room, Laxus stood nervously, his thoughts were running, and his main thought was; I hope no one recognises her voice.
Back up on the stage, she sat on the stool that had been offered to her and cleared her throat.
"I, uh, this is a song I wrote to, uh, congratulate the newly-weds, um, my uncle gave me the inspiration for the lyrics and yeah… I'm gonna stop talking now." She gave a shy smile and started strumming the acoustic.
It's been a long time,
Since I met your eye,
Your smile that gave me shivers,
And the day you tied my bow tie,
That time you fell,
And I helped you up,
That one night,
You caught me playing dress up,
"Okay, that was with Wendy." He grumbled, nudging the sniggering people next to him.
You are my other half,
You complete me,
Every day - I wake up beside you,
Just makes me dizzy,
And every time,
You give me little butterflies,
I know,
I just gotta marry you
The time you told me off,
When I drank too much,
That night you got lost,
And I came to pick you up,
You are my other half,
You complete me,
Every day - I wake up beside you,
Just makes me dizzy,
And every time,
You give me little butterflies,
I know,
I just gotta marry you
When you cry in the dark,
When you leave the bed,
When you're not there when I get home,
I feel so empty…
You are my other half,
You complete me,
Every day - I wake up beside you,
Just makes me dizzy,
And every time,
You give me little butterflies,
I know,
I just gotta marry you,
I just gotta marry you,
Da, da, da,
Dada, da, da, da,
Da dum
For a moment there, Lucy held her breath, afraid to look up. Everyone was stunned and Grandine was the first the break out of it, tears rushing down her face. She gave Mest a big kiss before running up to hug Lucy.
"That was amazing, and I really do remember all those times, especially Mest playing dress up." Grandine chuckled and wiped a tear from her eye.
One by one, people started clapping for her, wolf whistles too, and Lucy let out her breath.
Laxus also let out a breath, it seemed they were both safe this time round.
Eventually, the excitement died down, and people went back to dancing and laughing, the snacks around the tables slowly disappearing as it was nearing the end and people were getting hungry.
Lucy felt a tap on her shoulder and she turned around.
"Rouge." She smiled in greeting.
"Lucy. I didn't expect you to be here." He said softly.
"Mest is my uncle."
"I see. Do you want to –" his question was cut off when Sting walked over and pushed him out of the way.
"Hey there, sexy." He gave her a wink.
"Don't act all cocky, Sting. It's a wonder why you still haven't gotten your first girlfriend." Rouge sighed, rolling his eyes slightly while Lucy sniggered.
"Well isn't that great then?" Sting smirked and turned to face her, "Want to be my girlfriend?"
"I- um…" Lucy now took a step back, bumping into a hard, muscular body. Quickly turning around to say sorry, she came face to face with Laxus.
He was glaring at Sting and the boy took a step back, seeming to understand something. Laxus looked down to open his mouth and say something that seemed important but was stopped when Lucy felt a vibrate coming from her phone.
"Um, uh excuse me." She glanced at the three boys and scurried off.
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Erza stepped out of the limousine first a permanent smile stuck on her face as almost instantly, camera's flashed and cheers were heard. The rest of the band tumbled out after her, grins stretched across their faces too. While the band – especially Karen – seemed to enjoy the moment, all Erza wanted to do was get out of there. In the back of her mind, she felt like something was going to go wrong.
"Let's go, we have to perform in five." She said curtly as they nodded and hurried into the grand building.
"Have you got everything?" Gray asked.
"Yep, just let me get the CD out." Erza nodded, opening her bag, after a few minutes of searching, Erza pulled out the CD and they hurried to put it in before the performance started.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Natsu exclaimed, seeing checking the writing on the CD, "That says 'Spotlight!' not 'To retreat'!"
"Argh, crap… I must have taken the wrong CD." Erza cursed.
"Guys! We're on in less than a minute and SlutFace over there can't sing!" Gray hissed, pointing out Karen who was standing with a crowd of guys, fawning over he.
"What can we do? It's too late to cancel!" Natsu said. People were already looking over curiously, wondering why the music hadn't started. The director of the T.V show, Kagura and her assistant, Milliana walked over.
"Are you guys ready or not?" Kagura glared, an intimidating aura surrounding her.
"Sorry, Natsu's not feeling well at the moment. So um, can we maybe postpone the performance until the end?" Erza patted (slapped) Natsu on the back a few times, causing him to double over and wince.
"Until midnight? Well, I'm not too sure, I think some people are leaving early. But, it will have to do… seeing him… in that condition." Kagura reluctantly agreed, "Milliana, go around and tell the others."
"Thankyou." Erza bowed down, waiting for the two to leave before hissing at the others, "Act normal. And tell Karen to stop flirting and the performance is postponed."
They all nodded and separated, going off to congratulate the other actors/actresses, like any other opening premiere they'd been to while Erza ran off to a private area to make a quick call.
"Come on… pick up!" Erza almost whined, there was a slight pause in the ringing until a voice came through.
"What is it this time?" a hard voice spoke.
"I picked up the wrong CD and we're almost five hours away from the agency… that's a TEN HOUR drive! We had to postpone the performance because the person YOU decided to hire can't sing! And we have no way of keeping the secret unless a miracle happens!" Erza rattled on in slight annoyance and rage.
"That's not my problem. Look, I'm busy at the moment, and it's my day off." Laxus, on the other line grunted and hung up.
"Ah crap, I'll just have to call Lucy myself." She grumbled, placing another call.
"Hello? Erza? I'm sort of busy at the moment." Her voice came out as a whisper and Erza could hear loud chatter through the phone.
"I'm sorry, but you're going to have to drop whatever you're doing. Unless you want the secret out, you have to come to where we are before midnight! I can sneak you in through the back, but you have to come." Erza spoke, leaving no room for argument.
"I can't just ditch my Uncle's wedding though…" Lucy whispered again, unsure if she should really be saying that.
"Please, it'll ruin our reputation otherwise."
"T-tell me where you are, I might be able to make it." Lucy sighed, giving in.
"Great." Erza said.
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Lucy walked back into the wedding hall, a frown on her face. Erza and the others were a two hour ride away it seemed and she could make it with plenty of time to spare… but what could they do if Lucy was even there, it's not like she was going to sing behind stage or any – oh. She almost face palmed as realisation hit her.
"Oi, blondie, what 'cha thinking about?" Sting's face appeared centimetres away from hers and she took a step back.
"Something work related." She quickly brushed him off and walked towards Grandine and Mest, who we're currently sitting at a table with Mest massaging her sore feet, "I'm sorry guys, I have to leave early. Bring Wendy over tomorrow morning on the way to the airport okay? Something came up at work and they need me. So, congrats."
"You? Work?" Mest snorted, but stopped when he realized she was being serious, "Alright… I understand. Good luck eh?"
The Mest and his wife stood up and engulfed her into a hug.
"We would rather have Wendy stay the night over, all her stuff is in the car after all…" Mest drew back and looked at her pleadingly.
"I- I can't… I'm sorry, I know you two want sometime alone. But I don't think my… boss would appreciate me bringing her." Lucy gulped, she was a sucker for puppy dog eyes and Mest had always been the best at them, even at the age of 32, "… fine. I'll make a few calls."
"Lucy, you're the best!" Mest exclaimed like a small child.
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CHAPTER SIX :)