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"Sooo, who's Loki?"
"S-Sting!?" Lucy screamed jumping off the couch, away from the young teen.
"W-what are you doing here?!" She added, pointing a finger at his face.
"Ahaha, you silly girl!"
"Get out of this house. Now!"
"Now, now..." The attractive blond-haired boy stood up, putting his half-empty can on the coffee table and turning towards Lucy with a smirk on his lips.
"I can't even visit my girlfriend?"
"I am not your girlfriend." Lucy hissed, glaring daggers at him. The boy suddenly laughed, before looking at her again from the head to toe, licking his lips.
"W-what?"
"Don't you think you're playing with fire?"
"H-huh?" The blonde girl stuttered, really confused by what he mean. Sting slowly walked towards her and put a finger on her chest before whispering:
"You really are a dumb if you think you can seduce me with your fake 'innocent act', next to that body of yours." Lucy looked down and immediately pushed the boy away to close her shirt while blushing furiously.
"Ahaahah, there's no need to react like that. Your fat ass will never impress me."
"Disappear." Lucy threatened, placing one hand on the handle of her whip, located on her white garter.
"Hah, we both know it, girl. Who's the strongest among the 2 of us, so don't even try."
"Between you and she, perhaps. But between you and me, there's no chance." Loki appeared out of nowhere in front of Lucy as if to protect her.
"And who are you, kitty cat?"
"A guy who will smash your face in 2, if you don't get the hell out of here right now."
"Hah?" Sting took Loki by the collar and vice versa. Lighting up his other free hand, Loki clenched a fist by his side, ready to pummel the young man in front of his eyes.
"No! Loki don't!" Lucy screamed jumping on his fist trying hide it behind his back.
"You heard that, scumbag? The blonde wants me, disappear." Loki growled, tightening even more his grip on the blonde's collar.
"Shut the hell up, Sting! You're the one who has to go. Begone, you're not welcomed here!" The girl yelled pushing Sting away.
"Tch. And to think that I personally came here to give you some new information." He said, crossing his arms over his chest and looking away from Lucy and Loki.
"Some new information? What are you talking about?"
"Oh? Now you want to listen to me?"
"Grrrr! if you don't have nothing important to tell me, then get lost!"
"Hah. Do you really think I'll tell you something for free?"
"If I were you, I would speak." Loki threatened taking a step toward the boy, but Lucy stepped in front of him, blocking his way.
"Loki, stop! Just stop! It's an order!" Said those words, the orange-haired boy froze on the spot, as if some kind of invisible force petrified his body.
"Hah, another one of your pets? You really need to teach them how to properly behave!" The petrified boy growled like a lion at the other guy, desperately wanting to beat the crap out of him.
"Sting!"
"Ok, ok I get it, geez. But I have a favor to ask. In exchange for the message of course." Lucy looked suspiciously at the boy's smile, knowing he wasn't up to no good.
"N-no..."
"Ahahahah, always refusing without listening, huh? No, I'm not going to ask you to be my pet. Because you're the one who will come to me on your knees, begging for my attention." Lucy glared at the other blonde, before storming towards the living room's door, pointing at the entrance door.
"Out. Now."
"And you don't want to know the message?"
"No." She was curious to find out what that message was but she couldn't keep up with that boy's presence anymore. Just having him near her, and hearing his voice made her tremble with anger.
"Haaaah ... And to say that it was from your stinkin' old fart. What a shame..."
"H-huh?" Sting smirked, moving closer to the surprised girl.
"My favor for the message. Deal?"
"..." Lucy looked at the ground, thinking about his proposal. This boy's reputation was worse than hers and she was scared of what ever he wanted her do to. But the message was way too important, if it really was from that person. Knowing it, could actually help their position and change the future.
"No! Lucy, don't accept! He could ask you anythi-"
"Shut. Up." Sting said quietly but with a frightening tone, slightly looking over his shoulder. For a second Loki could have seen his eyes turn red.
"... F-fine."
"No!" Sting snickered before bowing down at the blonde's height. Sky blue eyes boring into cold chocolate brown ones.
"Don't worry sweetie. It's something we did a lot in the past, remember?" Lucy narrowed her eyes, biting on her lower lip.
"I see you remember. Anyway, it won't last much. This time it will only be a couple of small groups, here and there, around this area."
".... When ..."
"Every Friday. For how long, you don't have to know. Around 1 pm we're gonna meet-"
"I can't."
"H-huh?"
"School." The surprised blonde teen blinked a couple of times before laughing out loud. Taking a step back with one hand on the belly and the other on the forehead.
"Ahahaha, you ... y-you're actually going to school!?"
"Y-yes." Lucy hissed, insulted by the boy's reaction, who wouldn't seem to stop laughing.
"If you have nothing else to ask, can you tell me that goddamn message and get your annoying ass out of here?"
"Ahaha, yeah, yeah. I also have to go now..."
"Job?"
"None of your business." The boy cut her short, in a bored tone and avoiding eye contact as he passed by the blonde and walked toward the front door.
"Hey! The mes-"
"He knows about you and your stupid childish plans. He's coming after you. Ehehe, tick tack, Lucy, tick tack. " The girl looked with wide eyes at the empty spot where a second ago, there was Sting.
Huh? Lucy thought as her head quickly started to spin, her vision suddenly blurring up as she felt her lungs burn inside her chest, making it difficult to breath. Though having a good grasp of her surroundings in that moment was even more challenging. The blonde staggered backwards while leaning on the wall, as she hid her eyes under one hand.
H-huh? T-this ... feeling ...
"Lucy!" Loki screamed, jumping towards his master. Suddenly Lucy felt as if her senses, her body even her mind, go numb. Everything quickly turned black around her and suddenly a white light in front of her tried to blind her. A figure of a big man materialized, with a perfect white evil smirk on his dark face.
"Your time is ending, Lucy. Tick tack, tick tack. Now, you don't want to keep me waiting, don't you?" Lucy began to tremble, seeing that human shape get closer and closer her.
"Lucy ~ Oh, Lucy ~"
"Lucy!" Lucy blinked a few times, before her vision focused a bit on Loki's frightened face. Quick and short whimpers came out from her mouth as if she was trying to speak but something was strangling her, preventing her from breathing normally. A Spasm attack suddenly hit her and taking Loki by the arms the girl was now, struggling to breathe. With frightened and pleading eyes, the blonde looked up at the boy's face, asking for help, but he was even more confused and frightened than her.
"L-L-Lucy! Oi, Lucy! Fuck, fuck, fuck, stay with me girl! God, what the fuck is going on!?" Virgo appeared out of nowhere behind Lucy and quickly hit her at the back of her head making her go unconscious.
"What the hell is wrong with this girl?!" Loki cried out, after a few seconds of silence, seeing the blonde girl sleep in his arms. He bit his lip trying to stop his trembling body. Lucy needed him, and he didn't know how to help her. In the end, he failed once again to save someone close to him. Angrily he slammed his fist on the ground.
"Why do I keep messing up..."
"I don't know." Virgo replied with an indifferent expression.
"We...we must call a doctor, Virgo!"The boy shouted looking up at his friend. His trembling his staring into Virgo's blue ones.
"I'm sorry but I object."
"W-wha- WHY?!"
"We don't have time. Her father is coming and we still don't have a plan of -"
"Wait. Wait. Wait...A-a-are you saying that the man who is trying to kill us, is Lucy's father?!" Loki said surprised, but Virgo looked away from him towards the couch.
"...It's better if we lay the princess down on the couch."
"Virgo, answer me!"
"...I know as much as you do. Only the princess can tell you the whole story, that is, when she will feel like telling you. But right now, she needs our help more than before. My time is up, I leave the rest to you." Virgo answered calmly, before vanishing away and leaving Loki dumb struck behind. Looking down again, when Lucy moved into his arms, he saw her weeping and trembling like a leaf.
Is...is she dreaming about all those moments that I saw after the contract? Loki shuddered at the memory and stood up. With Lucy in his arms, he walked towards the couch where he laid her down, then went to sit on an armchair. He sighed heavily as his hands moved through his orange hair. Looking at Lucy's delicate body he frowned.
"What the hell am I supposed to do?...Damn it..."
-The 'dream'-
"Lucy, my dear, run ... Run right now..." Supetto said in a dying voice.
"N-no ... No! S-Supetto I don't wanna-"
"Go! Go right now!" The old bleeding woman shouted, startling the crying kid.
"Save yourself Lucy. Go! Go away, far away from here-Argh!" The little girl in tears looked at the old woman in her small arms yell at her before starting to cough violently and spit blood.
"B-b-but ... But Supetto is h-hurt-"
"Don't worry! I'm fine-"
"Lucy! Where are you, little brat?" Lucy immediately raised her head towards the end of the corridor with huge frightened eyes.
"Lucy!" The so named girl, stared hypnotized in front of her, ignoring the old lady that was now shaking her. And as expected, the kid saw the guards coming towards them followed by that scary monster. She heard the man yell 'fire!' and saw the guards raise up their rifles. Waiting for the dreading blow, Lucy saw everything slow down.
The smoke coming from the guns, their mouths move in large movements as if they were shouting and the blow that never came. Out of nowhere the old maid's body jumped in front of Lucy. With her arms outstretched and her head down, drops of blood falling down on the ground. There was no sound. It was as if Lucy went deaf for a second before hearing only the woman's voice.
"Go!" Supetto spat blood on the ground before turning her head around to glare at the little girl. Trembling the small kid crawled back on her elbows. Her big scared eyes glued on the old woman's face, who was now smiling.
Go ... Save yourself, my little chained angel... I won't let any more of this madness continue... Those were the last words thought by the woman, before she fell to the ground, lifeless, with a smile on her chapped lips. Just like all of the others who died before her.
A petite Lucy was running through the halls of her immense mansion.
Her small legs with various wounds here and there, couldn't pull her forward anymore, her little lungs were working more than they should have and her vision was becoming more and more blurred even though they were wide open from sheer terror. Rivers of tears came out of her big brown eyes, and they didn't seem to stop. With the fear of blinking and finding that hideous monster in front of her, the little hopeless girl kept running inside her house, aimlessly, but with a goal.
Run away.
"Lucy ... where are you going~?" The little girl jerked at the sound of that false yet sweet voice behind her, deep in the corridor. The girl ran while looking back horrified and because of that she tripped over the red carpet.
"O-ouch ..." She cried out.
"Lucy~?"
"Ah!" Lucy suddenly stood up, ignoring the blood coming from her left knee and tried to run again. Once she reached the end of the corridor, she collided against some guards.
"Here she is! We found her!"
"N-no! L-let me go!" The girl screamed while kicking her feet trying to free herself somehow.
"H-hey! Stay still-Argh!" The child was able to run away from the guard's grip by biting his hand. Once free, Lucy ran towards another corridor and suddenly she decided to enter a room on the left, thinking that it would have lead her out of the house or that it would have hid her well. But to greet her was total darkness.
She hated the dark. She was dead afraid of it. Her heart was beating in her throat, pain was pulsing through out her small body and especially her left knee, she wouldn't stop crying and it was so hard not to make any noises come out of her mouth. She felt like fainting at any moment, tired of running and never taking a break since, who knows how long.
Walking in the dark with her little trembling hands in front of her, she finally touched something and the second after, the door behind her swung wide open, showing the silhouette of a tall, muscular man.
Lucy, my dear, where are you running? You know you're only making me angry?" A little Lucy turned around shaking, with pure terror in her eyes as she saw a huge man's silhouette with white light coming from behind him. She could see that he was banging a whip against his left open palm.
"N-no ..." Lucy whispered, but she was too scared to run away or to actually shout for help. Those scared big eyes, like a deer's, observed as a wicked smile, pure of evil intent, made its way on the man's face.
"Come, my love~. You're gonna be fine, daddy is here~. Ehehe."
-End of the 'dream'-
"Lucy!" The panicked boy shouted, shaking the girl in front of him. Lucy suddenly opened her eyes and jolted up into a sitting position. After a few seconds of heavy breathing and frightened glances around, the girl sighed squeezing her eyes shut. A trembling hand resting on her chest.
"It...It happened again, right?"
"Yeah ..." Loki replied, watching the girl put her head in her hands. Her elbows resting on her knees.
"... I-i-it's visibly getting worse ...m-memories are starting to get longer a-and more real about-"
"Your father." The blonde snapped her head up to glare at the boy, but this time he wasn't having any of it. He was dead serious.
"Lucy. I want to know the truth. Enough with all these useless secrets."
"... If I had a choice... Don't you think I would have told you everything?"
"H-huh?" Lucy sighed and straightened up. With sad eyes, she looked into the void in front of her before saying:
"My-.. .. H-he...The man who wants to kill us, he killed my ..."The girl swallowed, opening and closing her mouth several times struggling to get the words out, but all in vain.
"... Your mother?" Loki asked, sitting down next to the blonde who looked like she was about to cry at any moment. Lucy suddenly looked up at the boy, surprised and confused at the same time, as to why he knew that.
"When we finished the contract ... I saw some pictures…"
"... w-which were they?" The girl's voice was weak and barely above a whisper. This part of Lucy that he had never seen before, was very different from what she always showed at school. This had to be the real Lucy.
".. A blond woman with a child.. both happy ...Then a frightened child in front of the woman's body on the ground ... A man with a raised hand as if ready to .. slap ...or something like that..." The girl unexpectedly twitched, hugging herself unconsciously.
"Lucy? Are you okay?"
"... I-I-I...I'll t-tell you ..." The girl started to say, trying to change the subject.
"...I'll tell you something... B-but not everything..."
"What-"
"Please Loki." Lucy stopped the boy from opposing, looking into his eyes with pleading eyes.
"It's harder than you think ... A-all these years ... t-trying to forget those ... M-memories ... And now forced to talk about t-them..." Like a punch in the stomach the boy felt guilty for asking her that. He gulped and looked away from the girl scratching his head. There was a moment of suffocating silence between the 2 teen, as Loki waited for Lucy to start speaking. He glanced at her and saw the poor girl look in front of her with a dull expression, lost in her thoughts.
"L-let me get you a glass of water, before you begin!" The boy jumped from the couch and went into the kitchen. Soon after he returned with 2 glasses of water. Lucy took the glass from Loki when he pushed it into her hands., but she didn't drink from it even if her throat was dry. She inhaled and then exhaled tiredly before saying:
"During the war against Zeref … M-my ...that woman ... L-Layla Heartfilia, you know her, right?"
"The best celestial spirit mage that ever lived, right? That woman was a myth, both in the human world and in the starry world. Hah, You have to be an idiot to not know her." Lucy scoffed painfully.
"Then I assume you know what happened..."
"She participated enthusiastically in the war ... But no one knows how she lost her life just before Zeref was killed ..." Loki said, confused by the girl's voice tone.
"He killed her. In front of me..."
"H-huh?" Suddenly the temperature in the room dropped as every sound disappeared. Loki could only hear the sound of his heartbeat, beating stronger in his ears as time went by.
"... He was against the fact that she wanted to join the war. But she was the unselfish kind of person, not like him. She would have done anything to protect her country. She would always put others before herself. " A pitiful smile almost invisible, made its way on the girl's face.
"She managed to run and take part in the war, helping people left and right ... While that man, left behind, he slowly started to be consumed by... Nirvana."
"C-consumed by Nirvana? But how!? It -"
"It doesn't matter if you're near or far from Nirvana. Hatred will always consume you...even if you were to be on the moon..." Lucy explained simply.
"But how? Ms. Heartfilia was at war, right? How come I saw the woman in a roo-"
"Kidnapped." Lucy cut him short, again, as she looked in front of her with lost eyes and her typical ice expression. The boy's eye noticed something and looked down to see her hand, which was holding the glass, trembling uncontrollably.
"... He sent a group of guards to kidnap her from the war field ... Then that night... I heard her voice ... I was told that she went to see an old friend for who knows how long ... I wanted to...to see her, to embrace her ...
So I left my room and walked towards the screams ... I didn't know why she was screaming and it scared me, because I never heard her raise her voice before ... Then I opened the door a-and... "
"Lucy calm down ..." Loki said seeing the girl trembling even stronger, spilling the water over herself. He cupped her hands before taking her half-empty glass away.
"It was dark ... It was raining ... No … It was pouring like never before ... A-and there were lightnings ...M-many ... Many, many scary lightnings ... Thanks to them, I could see what happened in that brief horrible moment... How she pulled out a k-key to defend herself, h-how he stabbed her with a sword- "
"O-okay, Lucy. You can stop now. You don't have to-"
"But he wasn't himeself, he wasn't you know who. (Voldemort :D)" Lucy continued, although Loki begged her to stop.
"Eh?"
"Nirvana consumed him. It was as if someone had controlled ... Possessed him." Lucy stressed that word with such clear hatred as if it were some kind of deadly poison.
"But that's not the reason, the reason why still to this day I shiver in fear ... I-it was what he said and did a-after…"
".. A-and, what did he say?" The boy asked, immediately regretting when he heard Lucy's answer.
"S-soon the world will... kneel before m-me and whoever... t-tries to disobey me will die...H-he actually did kill t-them..." Loki looked at her, appalled. Now he could understand why she didn't want to talk about her past. For a small child to see his mother being killed by his father's hands, it had to be really traumatizing.
"... I-I'm sorry but ..." Lucy breathed between a pant and another.
"I'm at my limit, I can't do it anymore ..."
"It's okay, I understand. Don't strain yourself too much. I'm sorry I asked you to do something like this. Here, drink some water." The boy handed her back the glass and caressed her back with a hand. The girl looked like she was slowly starting to calm down.
"No. It felt good, as if a little weight lifted from my heart...I felt sorry for what happened to y-you... after the contract you know..." She explained and before she could drink from the glass, an arrow appeared out of nowhere and struck the glass, shattering it completely.
"W-what the -?!"
"Lucy, stay back!" Loki pulled the girl behind him, stepped in front of Lucy. He looked around the room to see if some attackers were hiding and waiting for the right moment to attack again.
"No wait. This arrow ..." Lucy took the arrow from the ground and saw a piece of paper tied around its end.
"Lucy?"
"Shit!" The girl screamed as she finished reading the message on the sheet. Time was running out indeed, and way too fast than it should. Lucy had a backup plan in the first place but it was reckless and very very dangerous. She never thought she would be forced to use it.
"What is-"
"Did you manage to come up with a plan of attack?"
"E-eh? No, I mean, not really..."
"This is so, so bad ... Sigh ... Looks like I have to go with my backup plan..."
"Eh? Lucy what are you talking about!?" The girl sighed, shaking her head, with one hand on her hips.
"I'm sorry but we don't have any more time to lose. We have to initiate the LSR plan." (Let's play a game, 'kay? Guess what that means: D)
"...LSR... plan? What does it mean?"The blonde girl turned towards Loki and smiled softly before answering with a simple:
"You will soon understand it ."
The next day Lucy and Loki were stopped at the school's gate, like all the other students.
"What the hell is going on?" Lucy whispered, unable to understand what was happening.
"No one knows. The gates are closed and the teachers won't let us enter." Mirajane said, approaching the 2 teens with the rest of the group, except for Natsu and Gajeel.
"Eh? It has to be another stupid surprise, maybe like last year with the 24 hours marathon..." Loki said winking at a couple of girls who melted away in screams.
"Oh? Loki. When did you come back?" Levy asked, surprised. The boy shrugged and replied with a simple 'today'.
"Where are Natsu and Gajeel anyways?" Loki asked, looking around, followed immediately by Lucy, who secretly was also surprised to not see the idiot at school shouting and burning something... or someone.
"Aww, how cute! Ya miss your boyfriend, right?" Gray smirked down at Lucy who immediately froze and glared at him.
"N-nonsense! I was just looking for the principal!"
"Yeah, yeah, keep on denying, ya ain't fooling anybody."
"I am not denying!"
"Ahem. Listen up brats!" Everyone looked up to see the old master on top of the front gate, in perfect balance, with his hands behind his back.
"Recently there have been several crimes in the city, about kids your age disappearing without any trace and schools burned to the ground. Therefore, the school board has decided to protect every students through a magical stamp. "
"Magical stamp?" Lucy whispered, narrowing her eyes when she saw the old man raise a hand. On top of its palm the school's emblem appeared.
"Only the students who have the school's mark, can get in." After these words, all the students began to whisper wondering if it would hurt or if their parents would allow that their children would return home with a tattoo out of nowhere and so on.
"Don't worry I've already spoken with your parents. This is for your own good. Now shut up and put yourself in a single line, unless you want a divine punishment. " The students immediately lined up, as they were ordered, but when the first guy screamed out of nowhere, chaos broke out. Scream after scream, the teens entered into the school with a tattoo on a part of their body. Lucy heard that a guy wanted his tattoo on the tongue and shivered in disgust. The tongue! Can you believe it? Crazy people.
Then came the blonde's turn, who by now has lost all of her patience. Loki did nothing but flirt with girls and make them scream constantly behind her, Gray 'accidentally' hit her with his bag because of Elfman since they got into a fight and Mirajane along with the other girls ended up next to her, locking her in the middle of their discussion, in which frankly, she was interested but every time they asked her opinion, she answered with a simple and full of boredom 'aha' or 'yeah'.
"So wher-"
"The hand, and make it quick. " The annoyed girl hissed, slamming her right hand on the table. The person, sitting in front of the gate with a strange hammer in his hand jumped at the girl's reaction.
"Y-yes m'am!"
Ugh ...Why is everything bad happening to me and only me!? Damn, after I met that stupid Pinky, things started to take a bad-
"Arghhh!" Lucy screamed in pain before glaring at the boy who abruptly marked her hand, pulling her out of her thoughts.
"Godda- W-wait, what the fuck is this!?" She screamed again seeing the emblem on her right hand.
"H-hey, L-Lucy how did it came out? D-does it hurts?" Loki asked from behind the blonde, trying to take a peek over her shoulder. The girl quickly hid the sign with the other hand against her chest and ran away towards the school at the speed of light.
No, no, no and no! I can't let anyone see this sign! If they were to find out I would be dead. I'll become the clown of the school! Even if I really like this color...Oh my God, it's so cute ...N-no! Lucy desperately thought, going towards her locker and taking a pair of fingerless gloves.
She didn't mind hiding her hands behind a pair of gloves for her entire life. As far as she liked the color and how cute and lovely the sign was on her hand, she couldn't show it. Her pride was at a risk.
Towards the middle of the day when there was Lucy's favorite subject, which is literature, suddenly the class' door flew from its mainstays showing Natsu and Gajeel, both of them wearing sleeveless T-shirts.
"I think everyone has a strange fetish of kicking doors out of their mainstays, here..." Lucy whispered, looking away from Natsu when he began to scream and greeting her excitingly.
"Ehehe, that's why we have a big warehouse full of doors behind the sports field." Levy explained, before getting up and going to sit at her desk, earning a funny look from Lucy. During the lesson, the girl moved from her seat to hear better the lesson and 'coincidentally' it was right in front of Lucy. While Erza was sitting next to her, in Gajeel's place with Mirajane right behind her.
"Hey, Lucy look!" Natsu shouted, showing her his tattoo on his left shoulder and at the same time flexing his biceps.
"Wow." Lucy replied without enthusiasm, rolling her eyes before looking back at her book, ignoring the question mark on the boy's face.
"A red fairy on a pink-haired child's shoulder. How intimidating."
"Hey!" Natsu snapped, offended.
"I'm no child! And I look badass!"
"Sure, sure." The blonde replied again not not interested, motioning him with her hand to disappear.
"By the way, where's your tattoo?"
"What are you talking about? I don't have any tattoos."
"Liar! You need a tattoo to enter the school!" Natsu slammed his hands on Lucy's desk, who 'tsk-ed' and cursed the boy's strange intuition. Sometimes this boy looked like he was ridiculously stupid and sometimes he looked like he could understand things that she could never get or say thing with enough seriousness to make him look like a complete different person.
"Grr! E-either way, it's none of your business!"
"Damn sure it is! I'm ya friend! I have a right to know where it is!"
"No, you don't have it, and leave me alone. I want to follow the lesson." Lucy said, shifting her gaze back on the book in her hand.
"Aww, come on Luce. Tell me where's your tattoo~" Natsu whined, pouting while sitting in his place in front of the blonde.
"Nowhere."
"Liar!"
"Grr! .. You! .. How many times do I have to tell you-"
"It's one of your hands, ain't it?"
"H-huh?"
"Bingo!" Natsu suddenly took her by her wrists and start to pull off the glove on her left hand.
"O-oi, wait! S-stop! Let me go right now!"
"Tch, it wasn't the left hand. Then it has to be the right one!"
"P-Pinky! I order you to stop-" But Lucy couldn't finish her sentence as Natsu, way faster, quickly pulled off the glove. He stared at the hand speechless for a few seconds.
"What the? Pff ... Buahahah! "Natsu burst out laughing, making her blush immediately.
"P-pink! Your tattoo is pink! "The boy yelled falling backwards and rolling on the ground, while everyone in the class joined him. Okay. Her plan to keep her tattoo hidden for the rest of her life was destroyed. And now what? Suddenly Lucy stood up while keeping her head down and her hands clenched into tight fists at her sides.
"Ahaha, ya really are crazy for pink, aren't ya? Ahahaha .. aha .. ha? L-Lucy? " The worried boy asked, when he saw the girl standing motionless in front of him.
"Y-you... you shall pay..." The girl stuttered quietly.
"H-huh?"
"You shall pay for this, stupid ass monkey! "Lucy yelled before kicking Natsu's face and then running away without a destination.
Later that day.
"He's so going to pay for it. In one way or another I'll make him pay. How dare he do that, to me, in front of everyone. And now the whole school knows it too. Ugh! I despite him so much!" Lucy hissed while walking down a hallway back to her classroom. The girl has been hiding all day long and after the last bell rung she decided to come out. It was then that she heard strange noises coming from the science lab.
"Eh? There shouldn't be anyone in the school now, right?" She wondered, looking at her phone's clock, also seeing her inbox spammed again by the only guy who can do so. She looked back at the door when she heard another noise like something hard falling on the ground and breaking. She gulped, wondering if it was a ghost or some kind of monster. Slower than ever, the scared girl opened the door only to be blown away by the scene unraveling under her eyes. The little blue-haired girl nicknamed bookworm and the scary looking boy, making out in a corner.
"G-Gajeel ...Ah... S-stop ... If someone sees us-"
"Shhhh..." Gajeel hushed her, before gently kissing her again.
"Don't worry, babe...There ain't nobody here but us..." The boy whispered with his husky voice in the girl's ear before closing his eyes. He once again slowly approached the girl's lips to kiss her.
Click.
"W-W-WHAT WAS THAT!?" Gajeel shouted, after he literally shoved the little girl on the ground.
"O-oh sorry. It was the door, you see..." Lucy said before opening and closing the door behind her, to prove him.
"W-what do ya want?" Gajeel glared at the girl, but because of the strong blush on his cheeks it was impossible to take his threat seriously.
"Hmmm ...?" The blonde hummed with an evil smile on her lips.
"Me? I don't want anything. I'm here only to pick up a book."
"W-well, make it fast and get the hell outta here." The blonde smiled, creeping him the hell out since it was the first time he had ever seen her smile at him. His trembling eyes were fix on the girl's head. He carefully watched as she went to pick up a random book from the library. Before leaving the room the blonde girl stopped in the doorway as she heard Levy's embarrassed voice.
"Umm ... L-Lu-chan ... A-about what you've seen ..."
"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone ..." Lucy said, looking at the couple, one last time, with an expressionless face that immediately turned into a cunning smirking one.
"Maybe~" The creepy girl walked out of the room, leaving behind her, stone-still, the speechless yet scared couple.
"Ahahaha, who would have ever thought! Finding out a secret like that... I have to make great use of this opportunit-"
"Luceeeee!"
"Oh God...Please,no...no,no, noooo!" Lucy screamed desperately, hearing the idiot's footsteps running toward her.
"Where were ya? I've been looking for ya everywhere, geez I even waited outside the girl's bathroom. T-there's something important, I have to say..."
"Oh, really?" Lucy said sarcastically, trying to contain her anger.
"Umm ... W-well, I ... Y-you see ..." Natsu stuttered, scratching his neck with a guilty look fixed on the ground. For someone who is always energetically shouting and never still, he was strangely taking a lot of time and Lucy was loosing her temperament because of this.
"Look I-"
"I'm sorry!" Suddenly the boy screamed, startling the blonde for a second.
"H-huh?"
"I-I know you're still mad at me, but I didn't do it on purpose! S-sorry ..."
"... Don't worry. I've already forgiven you." The boy immediately raised his head, relief written all over his face.
"A-are you serious?"
"Hmh!" Lucy hummed, nodding enthusiastically. Shame that the boy didn't see the evil smirk that flashed on the girl's lips, a second before.
"T-thank God!" Natsu shouted, before jumping on Lucy and hugging her soul out of her body.
Hah! Did you really think that I would forgive you that easily. I'll get my sweet and deadly revenge. Oh, how I'm gonna laugh. I just need the right moment... Lucy though after she finally got out of his grip.
"Hey, wanna come to my house and study?" Natsu asked, pointing with his thumb towards a street behind him.
"Eh? No, I can't-"
"C'mon, it's gonna be fun!" Lucy couldn't protest any longer before she was swept off her feet and dragged towards a place she didn't know.
"L-listen Pinky I don't want to-"
"I'm hoooome!" Natsu shouted, as he opened the door with a kick ignoring completely the girl behind him.
This boy really has a problem with doors, doesn't he? Lucy thought as she was pulled into the strangely very 'clean' house.
"Anybody, hooome?!" Natsu shouted again, before a little girl came out from a room with a rag in her hands.
"Ah, welcome home Natsu-san and ... Umm ... Girl-san?" Lucy blinked expressionlessly at the little girl.
"Did she just call me 'girl-san?' "
"Ahahaha, no, no Wendy, she's Lucy. Lucy this is Wendy. My little sister."
"Y-y-you have a sister!?" Lucy shouted while backing away surprised. One hand over her open mouth.
"What's with that reaction? " Natsu gave her a dirty look, feeling offended.
"Ah ... M-maybe...Is she... Blondie-san?"
"Blondie-san?" The older girl asked, irking an eyebrow up before eyeing the pink-haired boy, who shrugged his shoulder while looking away. A small drop of sweat running down his forehead.
"H-hey, Wendy since we're gonna study for some time, can you make us some snacks? " He asked, trying to change subject.
"Oh, of course! " The little girl answered, grinning at the older boy who smiled back.
"Thanks a bunch. We're gonna be in my room, 'kay?" Natsu said, before quickly taking Lucy by the hand and dragging her away once again, up the stairs and towards his room, but he suddenly stopped midways to turn around and ask:
"Hey, Wendy. Do ya know if he's back?" Lucy's eyes shifted between the two, trying to understand who were they talking about, but she ended up not understanding a thing since they were talking really fast and never completing a sentence or naming the person.
"So that's what he told me..." Wendy said before sighing with a worried expression on her face.
"Don't worry, maybe he got stopped by the police, don't know..." Natsu said nonchalantly, while shrugging.
Got stopped by the police? Who? His father? B-but should he be more...worried? Lucy thought and opened her mouth to say something but stopped as Natsu pulled her again while saying:
"Anyways. Ya know what to say to him, right?"
"Yes. I'll deliver the message once I see him, don't worry." She looked over her shoulder at the smiling little girl in disbelief. This had to be a joke. She couldn't be his sister! She was so different from him. There was nothing in common between the two. She was beautiful even if she was very young, polite and most of all very calm. The complete opposite of Natsu.
The blonde girl slightly jolted when her cold brown eyes made contact with the little girl's light brown ones. She was struck by her heart-warming smile that reached her lips once she noticed that Lucy was rudely staring at her.
Natsu and Lucy were now standing in front of a brown door with a door sign made out of wood, on top of which was written his name but in a strange way. As if it was carved out with a claw or something and it was almost unreadable. Natsu put his hand on the doorknob and tried to push but it wouldn't even flinch.
"The fuck?"
"Um .. You sure, you didn't close the door with, I don't know, a key?"
"Nahh, I lost it, like, 3 years ago? I don't know..."
"W-what?" Lucy breathed, taken aback. He finally managed to slightly, open the door when suddenly Lucy's nose was attacked by a strong smell. It was like a mixture of perfume, food and something burnt?
"W-what the!?"
"Come on, get in!" Natsu said, pulling Lucy by the hand and throwing her into the deep dark room.
(A deep dark room were deadly screams could be heard from inside... )
Lucy's body all of a sudden tensed and her eyes opened wide in terror when she heard something moving around her feet.
"P-Pinky ..."
"Huh? Where's the switch?" Lucy heard Natsu's voice behind her, mutter and also cursing under his breath as he moved around trying to find the switch. Then again, something moved around her feet but this time it also touched her She jerked her feet up, almost losing her balance.
"Pinky! I-I think there's something in here ..."
"Aha, bingo!"
"Kyaaa!" As Natsu switched the light up, something attacked Lucy who fell to the ground.
"Heeeelp!"
"Lucy!?" Natsu quickly turned around to see no one.
"Umm ...L-Luce? Where are you?"
"D-down here!" The clueless boy looked down to see a hand moving around between big black trash bags. He took the hand and swiftly pulled the girl out, who on the other hand strongly collided against his chest, with a strange 'aye!' sound.
"What the?" Lucy looked down to see what was that strange weight on her chest ,that produced that sound, and she almost shouted the life out of her lungs when a blue thing looked up at her.
"T-take it off! Take this damn bug off, right now!"
"Hey! Don't speak like that about my cat!"
"C-cat?"
"Aye!" Lucy looked down at the, possibly cat, and now that she took a better look at it, it actually had ears and a tail, yet what was confusing her was its color and its way of meowing.
Confused, the girl pinched the cat's fur behind its neck and lightly pulled away, however the cat didn't even flinch. Slightly narrowing her eyes, this time she gripped the cat's body with a hand and pulled away but the cat pierced into the girl's clothes with its claws and wouldn't let go for nothing in the world.
"What the heck is wrong with this cat!?"
"Ayeee!" Now they were fighting against each other, before Lucy gave up and let the cat rest on her big chest.
"Ahaha, he sure likes to stay there." Lucy glared at Natsu who flinched back, before sighing and shaking her head with a hand on her forehead and the other one on her hip.
"Let's..Forget about this. For now. We have more important matters here."
"Hmmm~? Like what~?" Natsu half hummed half sang as he made his way towards his bed where he jumped on it and turned around so he was facing Lucy on his side while resting his head on his hand.
"This!" Lucy shouted, raising her hands above her head.
"This?"
"Ughh! Can't you see !? This place is like a junkyard!"
"Hey!" Natsu shouted back, now sitting up on his bed.
"Don't call my room a junkyard!"
"Then clean it!"
"What?" Lucy sighed and slapped her forehead in despair.
"Listen. I won't teach you anything in this dump, ok? You clean this room, I teach you math."
"But-"
"No buts. It's an order." The angry girl glared at the boy who jumped on his bed, saluting her as he shouted:
"Y-yes m'am!" Turning around Lucy noticed something on a wall. It was all covered in post-it of various colors every one saying the same thing again and again and again. He sure was lazy, to actually pass by this wall and not notice what was written on it not even once. Shaking her head, she came out of the room and looked down at the cat on her chest.
"You have no intention of getting off, have you?"
"Aye!" She was a bit shocked when it actually answered her, yet she shoved off the weird feeling. She smiled a little when she patted its head and it immediately purred loudly. Raising her head, she noticed that there were 2 more doors across the hallway.
Maybe his sister and his parents' room... She thought as she shrugged her shoulder. She decided to wait for the idiot to clean up in another room and half way down the stair she met Wendy holding a tray with loads of various snacks and drinks with one hand, making the blonde wonder how strong she was in reality.
"Umm, is there something wrong?" She shyly asked and a little worried.
"...N-no. It's just that, it's kinda difficult to study in that room, so Pinky decided to clean up..."
"Pin...ky?" Wendy repeated, tilting her head side ways, as she always did when she didn't understand a thing.
"Umm, yeah your b-brother..." Lucy awkwardly pointed behind her and watched how Wendy's expression shifted from a confused one into an amused one. The little girl started laughing and when she finished she apologized, confusing Lucy even more.
"I-I'm sorry. It's just that, the way you call each other it's so funny. Ahem, anyways, you can wait in the kitchen with me, i-if you want of course! I'm about to make dinner, so I don't mind some company... "
"Wait, wait ,wait...You make dinner?" Lucy asked as she followed Wendy into the kitchen where she sat down at the table and watched how the girl put on an apron and started cooking.
"Yeah. Since those two are always working and studying at the same time, this is the last I can do." She answered firmly, leaving Lucy speechless.
Those... two? She thought before opening her mouth again to ask something but she was cut by a loud thud followed by many curses from above.
"Ah! I hope he didn't hurt himself..."
"Even if someone tried to shot him, he wouldn't die that easily..." Lucy whispered while shaking her head, earning a good laugh from Wendy. There was a moment of silence until when Lucy broke the silence:
"...Was he always like this?"
"Ummm, what do you mean?" Wendy slightly looked over her shoulder to see Lucy starring blankly in front of her as if she were sleeping with her eyes open.
"Pinky...Was he always like this? So...Crazily possessive and so uncaring about others' emotions?" The little girl didn't answer immediately at that question and when she turned around, Lucy lifted her eyes to see a frowning Wendy. It was like she was sad and angry about something. While starring at the floor she opened her mouth to say:
"I'm sorry, but I don't recall this part of Natsu which you're talking about, but I know for sure that he's not a possessive and uncaring person." Wendy lifted her head and locked eyes with Lucy, who's eyes widened when she saw the determination and seriousness in the little girl's ones.
"His past has dangerously influenced his mentality. He would never try to ignore someone's emotions, instead he would do anything to help a person in need. I ...I don't know what he might have done to you, but I'm sure sooner of later he would come to you trying to sincerely apologize." Wendy finished her sentence, without changing expression or altering her voice tone. She didn't even look like a little child.
Lucy was so speechless that she only gulped and looked away from the little girl towards the window feeling guilty about what she said. There was another long silence, but this time it was Wendy who broke the silence.
"Umm, Lucy-san?"
"Just Lucy is fine." Lucy said, feeling a little bit uneasy when she heard her calling her that way. It was bringing back bad memories and she didn't want to start crying now in front of a child.
"Why are you calling Natsu-san, 'Pinky'?"
"Eh? B-because he has pink hair..." Lucy explained, feeling a bit stupid when she thought about it seriously. There was another load thud from above but they both ignored it.
"I mean, why don't you call him by his name?" Wendy explained as she broke some eggs in a pan.
"To call him...By his name...?" Lucy repeated as she looked down at her hands on the table, with a thoughtful expression. Is not like she never tried to call him by his name before, it's just that every time she tried, she couldn't. It was impossible. She struggled to say that word like she did with 'mother'.
"I'm hoooome." Lucy was taken back to reality by a shouting voice followed by a loud thud from the entrance hallway. That voice was strangely familiar, it sounded like …
"Gajeel?"
"Ah, welcome home Gajeel!"
"Yeah, yeah I'm hom- Wooooooah!" The boy shouted again when he saw the blonde sitting at the table in the kitchen, almost falling back on his ass.
"W-w-w-what are you doing in my house!? A-are you stalking me!?"
"Your house?" Lucy asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, me, Natsu and Gajeel-san live together. Natsu didn't tell you?"
Live together...D-don't tell me-!? Lucy thought, before dramatically turning around towards Gajeel with a disgusted and super shocked face. A trembling hand in front of her open mouth.
"Y-Y-YOU'RE WRONG! IT'S NOT LIKE THAT, YA FREAKING PSYCHO BLONDE-"
"Who are you calling a freaking psycho blonde, hah!?" Lucy shouted back before smacking away Gajeel's face with a paper fan out of nowhere.
"Tch, stupid tin can..." Lucy whispered, as she turned back to sit on the chair, leg over the other and with her head resting on her left palm.
"Soooo... W-what's Blondie doing in my house and moreover what's that cat doing on her chest?" Gajeel asked, as he pointed at the cat lying on the young teen's chest.
"Natsu invited her over to study." Wendy answered while smiling before turning around towards the hob. Gajeel slowly sat down on the chair in front of Lucy, his eyes never leaving the girl's ones. There was a stare contest between the two, before Lucy's eyes widened.
"W-what?" Gajeel asked, suddenly starting to feel insecure, and that's when he felt sorry for asking that. Lucy suddenly smirked at the boy, the same evil smug smirk that she did when they were at school.
"Oh nothing. Eeeheh, just had an idea. An amazing and sweet idea." The girl's eye glinted with a strange light, that sent chills down the boy's spine.
"And finished! Dinner's ready. Hmmm, I better call Natsu-"
"Well then, let me give you a hand." Lucy said as she rose to her feet.
"Eh?"
"I can't sit down and watch a little girl do everything, now can I?" The blonde girl smiled before turning around to get out of the room. She knocked on Nastu's door, getting no response. Once she opened the door the cat jumped off from her chest and went somewhere in the room.
Now you're getting off? Geez, weird cat... Lucy thought as she closed the door behind her and looked around. Now it really looked more like a room. It was pretty wide and it finally had an acceptable smell. In the middle of the room there was Natsu sleeping on a coffee table.
He must have worked himself out, to clean this big room so quickly. Lucy thought putting hers hand on her hips and softly smiling. After she put the blanket from his bed on his shoulder she looked around one last time and something caught her attention again. The wall that was full of Post-it, now was in order and in the middle of it, there was a lonely yellow one. Curious, Lucy approached the wall and read what was written on the paper.
"Wash 3 times a day. Lucy says I stink. And absolutely don't put perfume on!" She quietly chuckled at what she read. Did he really believe her? Truth be told, she liked how he smelled. It was unique and horribly addictive. It made her want to smell him more and more.
So that's why I couldn't smell it these days...Pff...How stupid. She thought before shaking her head. Turning around she went towards her bag, from which she took a pen and a pink Post-it. After she wrote something on it she looked at it and thought it was way too simple, so she decided to draw around some little things, like stars, hearts and a little blue cat with glitter pens. After she finished, she smiled at her work and shamelessly slapped the Post-it on the boy's forehead. She looked up at the clock and saw that it was getting pretty late.
"Better go now..." She said to herself, before raising to her feet from the table and getting ready to go. Before getting out of Natsu's room she looked back at him a bit sad... Or confused? It was like she was debating about something, and in the blink of an eye she turned off the light and ran away with a shy and hardly audible 'G-Good night!'.
When the entrance door was shut closed, Natsu finally opened his eyes.
"Eheh, I head that, dummy." He snickered as he straightened himself, like he was never actually asleep or dead tired. He pulled the paper from his forehead and light up his other free hand to read what was written on it. A heartfelt smile made its way on his lips.
"You really need to learn how to be true to yourself again Lucy. Lying won't bring you anything but failure..." He sadly said before rising to his feet and taking his shirt off. The moon's light shinning upon his broad and muscular back, before he left the room.
"You really are stupid, aren't you? What do you think we use perfume for? Try using a perfume to chase away that reek of yours.
Stupid Pinky. :p"