Hey guys you all ready for the first chapter of my revived story. I bet not as many people are reading Fairy Tail fanfictions since the Anime has been temporarily stopped. But the magical games arc has just finished in the Manga which was a great arc. I hope the anime will restart soon, I'm looking forward to seeing how the manga chapters have been animated. Anyway, here you go; to solve your summer Fairy Tail craves. -Also I made the chapters long, as per your request. (and to the dismay of my sore wrists and fingers.)
Finally coming out of the bathroom, she saw the two mischievous boys were missing from her room. It was almost boring how predictable they were. Freshly dressed in a blue, denim skirt and a plain pink Tee, she marched into the kitchen, letting her knee-high brown boots knock on the wooden floor.
Ice, cold murderous intent, shooting from behind them, ran along their spines causing every muscle in their body to tense in reaction. Cold sweat beaded on each of their guilty faces, flushed red from their hearts pounding blood round their system. There was no need to turn around to see where it was coming from. Storming into the doorway of the kitchen, she let her hand caress the tense leather of the whip on her belt. Ready for use. "Natsu. Happy." her voice rumbled in a threatening growl. Each name slowly came from her lips in a dangerous purr. They gulped. Slowly, the pink-haired boy and his companion let their faces turn behind them. Sheepish grins twitched on their lips as fear plastered their faces. Natsu flinched as his onyx eyes locked onto the celestial wizards burning brown orbs.
"Hey Luce." Natsu weakly laughed, scratching the back of his head nervously.
Suddenly, a blue exceed flew through the air and crashed directly into the blonde mage's chest. It was out of the blue- literally. Natsu felt himself catch his breath in the back of his throat and he was sure his heart stopped for the painstaking seconds that Lucy stood there. It was obvious she was caught of guard by the feline. It seemed Happy didn't seem to catch the threatening aura that was pretty much flowing out of the blonde.
Then she did something completely unexpected. She...hugged him back? Naturally Natsu would assume the cat would be crushed against a wall on any other normal day. Apparently, today wasn't normal. The dragon slayer's jaw slammed straight into the ground at his feet. Lucy's deadly expression softened significantly as she wrapped her arms around the cuddly kitten. Smothering him tightly in an embrace, she buried her face in his soft, blue fur and held the cat there for a long embrace. Natsu watched Lucy with a strange observance. In her deep, chocolate-brown eyes, a sadness sank into them. For a second, it looked like she could break into tears. And that would break Natsu's heart. He hated it when Lucy cried. It also caused a tight feeling to grip his chest when he saw tears run down her pale cheeks.
In the end, Natsu's heart didn't break because Lucy didn't cry. In a split-second, all the sadness that whirled under her pained expression had disappeared. Lucy let go of happy, and she settled back into her irritated face, placing two hands on her hips. Happy floated back to stand the table, next to Natsu. "Didn't I specifically tell you not to go into the kitchen. You ate everything. Again!" The stellar mage scolded, rubbing her temple with her forefingers. Brown eyes scanned the room, brimming with annoyance. A mess of empty food packets and cans were scattered and piled in various and random patches. Plates that had been licked clean scattered the worktops and sink. Cupboard doors swung open showing its completely barren insides. Lucy half-sighed, half-groaned as she set her eyes on the two of them. She dragged a hand down her face, lingering sightly over her eyes. Then, the hand fell to her side and she lent again the door frame, giving the boys a tired expression. She let her eyes closed for a second, wondering what it would be like if they both were normal.
"You okay Luce?" Natsu's voice rippled through her partially tranquil peace. Opening her eyes again, she caught the pink-haired boy's worried expression. His eyes brows knitted together in what seemed uncertainty, his eyes wandered over her face, trying to read her expression and his face stayed still. Definitely worried, which was weird for Natsu. It had been the thousandth time he would have asked that question.
"Yes, I'm fine," she sighed, because she was. Lucy straightened herself up, giving a final, vague glance over her pig-sty of a kitchen. "Let's go to the guild."
Once again, she had dismissed the question and changed the subject. Even though he knew he was expecting it deep down, he still felt a little disappointed. He hated that Lucy wouldn't answer him. A proper answer, not a simple 'I'm fine'. He really wished he could just ask her flat out. But Natsu knew how stubborn she is. There was no way he would be able to get anything out of the wizard if she didn't want to tell him. So, all he could do was go with the flow. But that didn't mean he had to like it. With great strength, Natsu resisted the urge to pout and continued the conversation.
"Okay then, Luce. Let's go!" Natsu proclaimed, giving his original goofy smile. Lucy could tell it was forced. The irritated overtone in his voice was obvious, hidden behind his signature smile. Normally, It was a simple task to hide things from Natsu, this time it felt like he could read her like an open book in one glance. And that glance was following her wherever she went. All that Natsu knew was something was up. Hopefully, he would just assume that her strange, sleep-screaming was just a nightmare and he'd move past it. It seemed unlikely but that was all Lucy could bet on. For the others, however, she would just have to put up a play. Because she was fine. Right?
Jumping up from his chair in a flash, Natsu leapt up onto the widow ledge, half hanging out of it."See you outside!" he called. And just like a cat -a normal one- he leapt out the window and effortlessly landed on the street below. Lucy shook her head lightly and shut the window. Lucy flicked the catch to lock it. Not that it would do any good. At least, it would keep burglars out. Lucy let herself chuckle a little at the thought.
Lucy's gaze drifted to the streets to see the crowds had dispersed and the commotion had died down. Less people were wandering the streets this late in the afternoon. Thought there were still quiet a few. Lucy quickly shook away the thoughts and stepped back from the window. Plucking up whatever courage she had left, she collected a green jacket, locked the door behind her and left for Fairy Tail.
Brooding over his fire whiskey, the dragon slayer was watching it crackle and fizz with flames a little too intensely. His mind wandered in the distant land of memories. Well, it wasn't quite that distant. It only went back to about ten minutes ago; a.k.a the walk here. Natsu decided he would let his mind pick at it. Which was definitely out of character for Natsu -Super dense- Dragneel.
Lucy had insisted on taking every single back street possible. When a person would walk pass, the celestial wizard put far to much effort in avoid them. Lucy was being extremely conspicuous. She must have been for it to catch Natsu's attention. Even if he was around the girl every day, she could dye her hair brown and it would take him a year at least to notice it. Either she was suspicious or Natsu's observational skills had drastically improved. The latter seemed unlikely.
Mira's absent minded polishing of glass slowed as she registered Natsu's presence. He had been quietly sat there for a while now. A little too quietly. Mira was quick in decided something was up and even quicker in deciding to find out what it was. "You okay?" The bar maid asked softly, moving closer to his end of the bar -which was a shady corner to the right. No response. Mira gently set down the glass with an almost silent clink and dumped the cloth next to it. "Natsu?" she tried again, leaning a little closer. Natsu flinched as he took a rough ride back into the physical world.
"Huh?" he flicked his head up to look at the curious, and slightly worried, mage. "Oh, Sorry Mira." he relied after registering her presence.
"Are you alright, Natsu?" Mira repeated, leaning a forearm on the bar, watching him closely. Normally that would seem intimidating, but Mira-Jane made it seem all-too motherly and comforting. "You seem a little distracted."
"Oh yeah, I'm fine." Natsu repeated. It had a bitter edge to the end as her realised half-way through saying it, that it was the exact same thing Lucy had said to him in his earlier brushing off.
"I'm?" Mira questioned, quizzically, leaning a little closer. "Is someone else sick?" her voice raised a little louder and the concern took a big leap.
"Not exactly." Natsu struggled. He wasn't quite sure how to describe Lucy's current state.
"What do you mean?" Mira pressed. The dramatic concern in her eyes pushed Natsu into a corner. It was struggle not to just burst out and tell her. But at that moment he felt unsure about what he was so fussed over.
"Well it's Lucy..." Natsu slowly raised his head to meet hers full on, her intense stare along with it. Before he just caught her in the corner of his eyes, but now it wall 100% full on Mira-Stare. And it was scary. It was both full of intrigue and curiosity and then worry and anxiety. The dragon slayer still felt reluctant to go on. However, after pushing the innocent barrister to worry, it would be wrong not to tell her. Who knows? Expressing his concerns might make him feel a little better. Even if it did, it would only be a little bit. If something was wrong with Lucy, Natsu doubted he'd ever feel OK.
"Is Lucy okay?" the girl exclaimed, shaking the boy's shoulders. Natsu quickly shushed the riled up girl, pressing a finger to his lips. Luckily, no one was listening to the pair's conversation. Hushing her voice to a whisper, she leaned in. "What's wrong with Lucy?"
"Something's wrong with Lucy?" A stern voice repeated behind them. Slowly turning on the stool, the pink haired boy looked up with a nervous grin. Erza. The signature blazing-red hair flowed down her back and spread across her steel armour. In her hand, she forked a vanilla and strawberry cheesecake. Even though she was munching casually on the cake, her eyes had set on Natsu and Mira with a hard,cold intensity that no one could escape. What worried Natsu more was that it seemed like she was doing it unconsciously. "Well?" She enforced, slowing down the movement of her fork as it cut through the soft cheese of the cake.
"What are you talking about?" A masculine, strong voice rippled through the air. Strolling as casually as possible, Gray -full dressed- gave them each a curious glance. Looking at them generally, he settled for asking Erza in a curious stare.
"Something's up with Lucy." she replied completely calmly, slipping another piece of cake into her mouth. Dark, steel eyes remained on the pair, -mostly Natsu-. She didn't even glance Gray's way for a second.
Mira let out a harsh, impatient groan. With a surprising smoothness, she dragged all three mage's over the bar in quick succession. All three of them crouched low behind the bar as Mira checked the coast and slipped down next to them. "We need to be quiet or she might hear us." the bar made shushed, pressing a finger to her lip like Natsu had done before.
"Is something really up with Lucy?" The Ice mage whispered. Natsu heaved a deep sigh, venting a small relief from somewhere. Dropping into a sit with his legs folded, he leaned back against the warm, oak bar and raked a hand through his soft, messy, pink hair. He propped one leg up and draped his arm over it.
"I'm not sure.." he began, dark, onyx eyes looking into an apparent distance.
"Hey, what are you guys doing down here?" a high voice called from above their heads.
With another impatient groan, Mira plucked the cat out the air by the tail and dragged him down. Soft, white hands cupped around the surprised cat's mouth, smothering his protest. "Carry on." she snapped in a whisper.
Not wasting any more time in keeping the on-edge, demon-soul mage waiting, Natsu continued. "Lucy's been acting weird..." he restarted finally.
Meanwhile, Lucy sat at a table far in the corner of the guild, unaware of the other mage's behind the bar. She felt anxious. Her body wouldn't sit still. At the back of her mind, she felt herself praying to god that she wouldn't do it again especially not here. Natsu was already on her tail for acting weird. The guild also hounding her was something else she definitely didn't need.
out of nowhere, a small sigh escaped next to her. Leaping in surprise, Lucy had a mini-heart attack. A short, blue-haired mage sat beside her. Elbows perched on the table, she held her face in her palms. Lucy gave a small huff of relief. The poor air-headed bookworm would never notice anything unless it hit her in the face, never mind her obscure behaviour. Well, in cases not involving book work. "Oh hey Levy." the blond girl managed a smile.
"Hey Lucy." Levy replied with a sigh again. Something seemed to have the girl down.
Reading her slightly troubled face, the stellar mage asked the obvious question "You alright?" Levy's eyes wandered over to the blonde sat next to her, finally acknowledging her presence- slightly.
"I just finished Amore Rose" Levy sighed.
"Love Roses? Oh, the Italian-translated romance novel."
"Yeah." she sighed; fourth time in a row.
"Normally you're all giddy and over excited after you read one. You seem kinda down though." Lucy shot the girl a quizzical look.
"I know." Levy replied softly.
"But...?" Lucy pressed, leaning an elbow on the table.
"Well it finished with the girl ending up with the cold-hearted jerk who was actually a real sweetheart." Levy turned sharply to face Lucy.
"Tsundere character stories are really common at the moment." Lucy added.
"Yeah. That's because a lot happen in real life." Levy sighed, turning back to her original position; elbows up, head in hands.
"So, why are you so down?" Lucy asked, trying to look at the girls face. Levy was half-way through heaving another sigh when she suddenly perked up again, bearing her usual, cheerful smile. Lucy sat back, giving levy a eyebrow-raised look over. She brushed the depression away like a fly. It was nearly all gone when Lucy looked at her closer. Nearly. Traces of it still hid in her soft eyes.
"It doesn't matter. So what's going on with you? Are you feeling any better after what happened the other day?" Lucy eye brows knitted together as she looked at the girl. "Still don't remember?"
"Afraid not." Lucy relinquished.
"I wonder what happened?" Levy puzzled.
"Same." Lucy sighed. The solid script mage gave her friend a sympathetic look.
"Hey, have your eyes always been that shade of brown?" Levy asked inquisitively, looking deeply into Lucy's eyes.
"What?" Lucy asked, slowly backing up as Levy leaned closer and closer.
"Well I thought they were lighter than that?" Levy mused.
Suddenly, the big, guild doors swung open, revealing a tall, muscled, iron dragon slayer walking into the guild, followed by his small companion panther lily. Dark, dragon slayer eyes flickered over to the blue haired mage as soon as he took a step in through the door. Levy's eyes were all ready all over him as soon as he walked into the room. Their eyes made contact and the celestial mage's heart did a back flip. No. It wasn't her heart. It was Levy's! Quickly, the blue-haired girl's eyes flashed away, turning back to the celestial wizard. Levy tried her hardest to hide a small grin twitching at the corner of her lips. "So that's how it is." Lucy mused, grinning at the girl.
"What?" Levy exclaimed, flinching in surprise.
"You and Gajeel, eh?" The celestial mage elbowed her lightly in the arm. Big mistake.
Suddenly, Lucy's heart thrashed rapidly inside her chest. Butter flies fluttered in her stomach, twisting knots. Levy's blush was red on her cheeks, flustering. A small blush lit up on the stellar mage's pale ivory face as well. Lucy's skin felt like it was burning, she was probably feeling at hot as the book worm beside her. All of Levy's emotions flooded into her as soon as her skin made contact.
"It's not like that!" Levy tried to deny it, waving her hands out in front of her. It seemed like she was trying to waft the idea out of the air before anyone else picked it up. It seemed like Levy and Gajeel were the only ones who didn't know the fact that everyone in the entire guild knew about them. Lucy quickly shielded her burning face and tried to continue in every way that was normal. Hopefully, Levy wouldn't notice.
"That's why you were so depressed!" The blonde girl deduced.
"No! No it wasn't!" Levy was still trying her best refuting Lucy's ideas. But Lucy's mind was working in quick succession, pointing out thing one after the other.
"You wanted Gajeel to be like the guy in the story and fall in love with you- the innocent girl!" Lucy exclaimed. "Well...I never thought of Gajeel as such a tsundere. Maybe he does have a soft side to him. Only in your case though Levy." Lucy tormented the poor girl.
"Lu-chan!" Levy whined, her voice falling into a small mutter of embarrassment.
"Hmm...I wonder what would happen if Mira found out about this..." Lucy smiled sinisterly.
"Lu wait!" Levy panicked, trying to put a halt to the celestial wizard's spit firing thoughts.
"Maybe I should go tell your to come sweep you off your feet right now?" Lucy teased , rising from the table to her feet. Levy's eyes darted around the room, coming to a sudden halt at the other end of the room. Gajeel's dark eyes turned to her, watching her with confusion and amusement. Levy groaned weakly, sinking under the table in shame. Lucy let out a light laugh, sitting back down.
Deep, brown eyes watched the irritated and self-ashamed girl hiding under the table, with her arms folded tightly over her chest, chin high. A big red blush marked her cheeks and a small pout sat on her lips.
"I'm just joking, Levy." Lucy smiled sympathetically. "Come out of there."
"Only if you promise to stop it." Levy compromised.
"Stop what?" Lucy innocently questioned.
"The teasing." Levy snapped, in the harshest way she could manage, which wasn't very harsh.
"But it's so fun..." Lucy whined playfully. The bookworm gave her a cold stare. Groaning at her loss, Lucy buckled. "Fine." she agreed.
Levy began to climb out of the table. Unfortunately, she rose to carelessly and her head thumped against the table corner.
"Ouch!" The girl whined rubbing her head. A stifled laughter came from across the room . Gajeel was watching, trying his best not to laugh. His eyes snapped up to the stellar mage, feeling her stare directly on him. She gave him a knowing grin with one eye brow raised. For the first time, she was sure he looked scared as he gulped, turning away as fast as an iron bullet. Lucy chuckled quietly to herself and turned to try her best at consoling her injured friend, trying not to touch her. Lucy didn't plan on finding out how much that actual bump hurt.
Natsu let a small sigh escape as his friend pondered the dragon slayer and his companion's observations on their blonde friend.
"It could be linked to what happened the other day." Mira suggested.
"She acts like it hasn't effected her at all." Gray included.
"It's like she hasn't happen to her at all." Erza added.
"Could it be that then?" Mira asked, hoping for a definite confirmation.
"But why would she want to avoid everyone? Surely she'd feel safer in a crowd." Gray spoke.
"And there's that thing with the magical energy Loki and the spirits felt." Happy added.
"This is so frustrating." Mira moaned. "I wish we knew what was actually up with her so we could help."
"We should just ask." Happy purposed.
"If she hasn't told us now I doubt she would when we ask. She's quite stubborn when she wants to be." Gray shot back.
"Maybe the best thing we can do for her now would be to be normal." Erza thought aloud.
"I suppose." Happy sighed.
"Let take her on a mission then!" Gray suggested full of determination to help. Slightly weird. "It could keep her mind off of whatever is troubling her."
"She doesn't look very troubled at the moment." Mira observed. the group only just noticed that the silver-haired barrister was peering over the edge of the bar, sat up on her knees. The members of team Natsu joined her.
Lucy sat at a corner table of the guild with her blue-haired best friend. At the far corner of the guild, Lucy was laughing playfully at Levy who was rubbing her head and moaning. "That seems true." Erza agreed. "Maybe we should go on a mission. She sees well enough to go."
"I agree if it helps. You never know she might regain her memories of that night while on the job." Gray suggested, as the group sat back down on the floor behind the bar again.
"I don't think that would be a good reason." Happy argued. "Obviously her memories are bad and she physiologically rejected them and forgot." A silence fell over the group as raised eye brows and quizzical looks were directed at the cat.
"Who are you...?" Gray growled in a teasing retort.
"It may be convenient if Lucy remembers, but it wouldn't be good if it makes her worst." Mira backtracked to the topic.
"What do you think, Natsu?" Erza asked, noticing the oddly quiet boy. He didn't respond. Dark eyes were still his peering over the bar absent-mindedly.
"Huh? What?" the boy jumped. Dark, onyx eyes were watching the laughing girl with his full attention, face plastered with worry, not listening at all to what they were discussing.
Returning back to conversation, Erza repeated herself. "Do you think we should take Lucy out on a mission?"
"I suppose." Natsu vaguely replied, returning his gaze back to the girl. Everyone exchanged sympathetic glance directed towards the boy. It was obvious that whatever was upsetting Lucy was effecting Natsu as well. Unfortunately for him, this was problem he could not solve with his fists.
"Gray go pick a simple mission." Erza ordered. Gray cast another glance Natsu's way before getting up.
"I saw one earlier. I'll go get it." Gray grumbled, rising from behind he bar.
"Come Natsu, Let's go." The equip mage said, setting a metal gauntlet on the boy's shoulder. Natsu nodded, following Erza out of their hiding place.
Gray met them at the job board. Dark eyes kept contact with one request in particular.
'Request: Capture Known Criminals involved in child kidnappings'
'200,000 Jewels'
"That seems perfect." The scarlet mage gave a satisfied smile.
"I'll go tell Lucy!" Happy announced, flying towards the blonde girl in the corner.
"Lucy!" A blue feline bellowed, hovering besides the blonde.
Lucy flinched, turning towards the cat. "Hey Happy," Lucy gave the cat a cheerful smile.
"Wanna go on a mission?" Happy asked, scooting closer in the air.
"Sure. I need rent money anyway." The girl smiled. As the cat retreated back in the air, the girl slung her small bag and jack into her arms waving goodbye at her friend. "Go for it!" She winked. For a moment, Levy just looked at her with a confused, raised eye brow. Then she realised. A bright, red blush burnt on her cheeks. Lucy left Levy cursing at her, trying to avoid staring across the guild at the man in question. Gajeel's eyes watched the blonde cautiously as she left, bearing a teasing smile at him too. Quickly, Gajeel's eyes flickered onto the blue haired girl. When his eyes flickered back to Lucy, she raised an eye brow his way and with a sly gleam in her eyes. Gajeel flinched, quickly snapping his head away, grumbling curses too.
"Let's go Lucy!" Happy called at the doors.
"Coming!" Lucy smiled. 'So that's how it feels to be in love.' Lucy smiled softly to herself, admiring the dragon slayer and bookworm's relationship. For a moment, her eyes traced to Natsu. Lucy felt a thought slowly making its way into her mind. She gave a sharp, nervous laugh. "Like that would ever happen." Lucy rebutted, waving her hands in the air. Happy popped up in front of her, waving back foolishly, obviously teasing her.
Embarrassed, Lucy stopped and gave Happy a sharp glare. "Damn Cat." she growled as Happy gave her a mischievous look she knew all too well.
"You liii-" Happy began.
"Shut up." Lucy snapped, moving past the cat towards Natsu at the door
Awh, Poor Natsu's worried. It both sad and adorable. I also managed to get some GaLe in there. I love Gajeel and Levy as a ship. They're so cute. I also Love Tsundere characters.
If you don't know what a Tsundere character is here's a definition: a Japanese character development process that describes a person who is initially cold and even hostile towards another person before gradually showing his or her warm side over time.
Now you are blessed with some Japanese anime terminology. Your welcome. :)
If you liked this story try checking out some of my others.
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- A-ccentric