Thank you for all the lovely reviews, favorites and follows. You guys are the best. Thanks to Lucechan and Sanders-sama, who mentioned this story on tumblr. Seriously, I don't know what I did to deserve you guys, but you make my nonexistent heart feel warm. Oh, thanks to Reddish-can, who said that I'm not insane, but I'm "Walking in the street rather then the sidewalk, like me." God, that made my day.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything, it all goes to Hiro Mashima. Thank god, because I can't draw.
"Operation start," Levy whispered to the man next to her, careful to not lean in too close. They had just spent five minutes trying to detach her new nose ring from his black mane of hair, and though the piercings were fake, it was surprisingly painful for both of them when it gets suck on something. Gajeel nodded, giving her a once over and deciding Levy's new outfit was acceptable. They both watched eagerly from their hiding spot (which, of course, was a bush. 'What kind of spy operation are you in if you aren't hiding in a bush?' was Levy's reason), waiting for their two targets to arrive. A quick glance at her watch told the devious blunette that it was 10:59. As if on cue the two boys she was waiting for appeared out of thin air, looking around eagerly for their favorite person.
"They look like lost puppies," Gajeel chuckled, parting the leaves so he could watch them fight over who got to stand on either side of Levy. Apparently the right side was the place to be.
"Shut up," Levy covered her mouth to conceal her smile, "they're really nice guys!"
"Then why are you trying to drive them away?" He questioned.
"They're too nice," she sighed, crawling out of the bush. She had forgotten that she was wearing a skirt, so Gajeel got a nice look at her underwear. Though he tried to convince himself otherwise, we all know that he was totally enjoying the view and he was just in denial.
But, anyway, back to their mission.
"Hey, guys!" Levy called out to her two suitors. The goofy men spun around excitedly and started to run over to the girl. However, once they registered the giant, scary man that the girl had attached to her side, they actually stopped to look at her. At the moment, Levy was showing off a brand new leather jacket, resting on top of a dark purple t-shirt that was advertising some obscure screamo band. As previously mentioned she was also wearing a black skirt which was coupled with knee high leather boots. Ah, and let's not forget her new piercings! Her ears were now dotted with black studs that matched the one on her eyebrow, nose and, when she talked, her tongue.
In essence, she had become an alternate persona: Black Levy. All the spunk of normal Levy mixed with all of the danger of drunk Levy! Basically, the scariest thing mankind has ever seen.
"Levy," Jet paled.
"You look...different," Droy wore a similar look. They flashed their eyes over to the towering mass of muscle who was smirking at them. Gajeel threw his arm over Levy's shoulder and started to laugh at their shocked expressions.
"Guys, this is Gajeel. My boyfriend," Levy awkwardly shuffled closer to the man and smiled at them. The two boys gaped openly at her. Levy has a...boyfriend? A scary monster of a human at that.
"Levy," Jet started nervously, "You know that the dark side lied about the cookies, right?"
"We may have lied about the cookies, but there's something even better," Gajeel winked at the two and started dragging his 'girlfriend' away. "Later, then!" He called over his shoulder. Levy tried to turn and wave, but Gajeel grabbed her hand and shot her a look. She nodded slightly and, when she saw that Jet and Droy weren't looking anymore, pushed Gajeel back into the bushes. From there the odd couple army crawled back to the spot where they could hear their targets.
"Droy, you know what this means, right?" Jet asked seriously. Levy and Gajeel crowded closer, eager to hear their words of defeat. If they gave up now, Gajeel could go back to being a free man again. Well, as free as a poor entertainer could be, anyway.
"Cry ourselves to sleep and buy some cats," Droy nodded and stared in the direction Levy had exited.
"No you idiot! We have to save Levy from that beast!" Jet slapped his friend over the head.
"Or that," Droy rubbed the spot and followed Jet out of the park. The two eavesdroppers fell forward and tumbled out of their hiding spot, scaring the shit out of some random jogger.
"Great, we just made it worse," Levy groaned, unable to resist the urge to face palm.
"Don't give up just yet, Shrimp," Gajeel chuckled evilly, "I have another plan."
"Does this one involve piercings?" She asked.
"No. Why?"
"I think some of my ear rings are stuck in my hair."
"Oh Natsu," Mira called out menacingly, "Gray, come on out!" Natsu and Gray looked at each other, terrified of the fate that had fallen upon them. A scratching at their door (okay, maybe it was a knock, but Mira is scary dammit!) alerted them to Mira's dreaded arrival. They dover under their couch, however nasty the experience is, right before she smashed the door open. Now, they were watching in horror Mirajane tore through their apartment looking for the two boys. Gajeel was a damn lucky bastard for escaping this white haired demon.
"Don't worry guys," Natsu heard Lisanna call, "I'm here too." Her words made the two boys sigh in relief. Mira was always calmer when her little sister was with her. Hopefully, Lisanna's presence will stop Mira from rearranging their faces for lying to her all these years.
"Gotcha," came a whisper from behind. Natsu squeaked as he felt claws digging into his heels, both him and Gray were dragged out to meet their doom. Mira looked absolutely terrifying, with her hair flying around in the dark aura that surrounded her, and she hadn't even transformed into her Satan soul yet.
"Hey, Mira," Gray laughed nervously, "fancy meeting you here!" Natsu laughed along with him, doing what he could to survive. He started to pray in his head to the so called 'Bacon God' Lucy was always ragging on about. Dear Bacon God, please don't let Mira kill me. Lucy would be sad.
"Tell me," the demoness purred, "since when had you been working in the House?" Mira grabbed both of them by the throats. "And why did you not tell me?"
"Can't breathe Mira," Natsu choked out. Damn Bacon God was a freaking lie.
"Oh, and does it look like I care?" She laughed evilly. Holy shit, she was actually going to kill them. IT'S JUST A FIGURE OF SPEECH MIRA!
"Mira-nee, come on. They can't talk if they're dead," Lisanna reminded her sister with a somewhat amused tone. Her older sister nodded, agreeing that her victims were of no use to her dead, and let the two boys go. Natsu and Gray dropped to the floor gasping for breath.
"Sorry Mira," Gray gasped. "We didn't...tell you because...you would react like this..."
"We needed...the money," Natsu added. For a few minutes it was silent. They stared at her, she stared at them. It was a silent battle of the eyes, and Natsu wasn't quite sure who won or what was said or why Mira seemed to deflate and give up.
"Well, that's in the past now, I suppose," She mused.
Is she...giving up? Before either of them were punched in the face?
"Onto a more important topic! Natsu, what business do you have with my darling Lucy?" She was smiling at him, but underneath he could see a more sadistic look gleaming. This girl was having more mood swings then Jellal when he gets into a fight with his girlfriend.
"I'm helping her become a normal human being," he explained warily.
"Who's Lucy?" Lisanna cut in.
"She's a friend of mine- Hey! Lucy isn't that weird!" She snapped.
"She asked me," he shrugged.
"I don't believe you. She would've asked us, if anything," Mira huffed,
"I'm still confused here," Lisanna looked back and forth between Natsu and Mira, but neither of them threw her an explanation. They were too busy arguing about this mystery girl that Natsu is apparently spending time with. She was both curious and worried about this girl; Natsu had always been careful about who he was close to, so this girl had to be pretty darn special. However, if she was like the other girls Natsu usually came in contact with (I'm talking lusty, get in his pants type girls that frequent the house) then he was going to end up hurt.
And, you know. Lisanna kind of liked Natsu. Not just like, but she like-liked him. So if there was another girl in the picture, she wanted to know about her.
"Oh, that busty blonde!" Gray exclaimed. He too was at a loss in this sudden turn of conversation, but he was pretty sure he had heard the name Lucy before. Both Mira and Natsu turned to glare at him for interrupting their argument.
"Sexist pig!" Mira screamed. Okay, maybe Mira was mad about his comment, and Natsu was mad about interrupting the argument. Whatever it was, he felt their eyes pierce a hole through his brain, like a laser shot from some weird dragonoid thing. Wait, what is up with that simile? Totally random. Maybe Natsu's strange ways were finally rubbing off on him. Anyway, Gray army crawled over to Lisanna where it was safer, and the two people went back to their epic battle. Somehow, bacon had come into the mix.
"You know her?" Lisanna asked.
"Natsu's mentioned her before, and I saw her yesterday. Weird chick, from what I can tell," He shrugged. Burning curiosity took over her, and taking no time she asked the most important question.
"Is she pretty?" She asked timidly. She was very curious, but as they say, curiosity killed the cat. Or, in Lisanna's case, put the cat in the forever permanent friend zone. Though she knew that Natsu would hardly abandon her because of a pretty girl, but the picture she was painting in her head was overwhelming her.
"Yeah. Blonde, curvy, pretty. But, like I said, she's pretty strange. You can tell right away," Gray ducked as Natsu was thrown in his direction. Oh good, Mira started to beat him up. This was the perfect opportunity to escape.
"Later!" He yelled, sprinting out of his apartment before Mira could turn to grab him. Natsu glared after the traitor. So much for "Nakama power." But, the Bacon God finally answered (very late, he might add) Natsu's call, because instead of refocusing her rage on Natsu, Mira's phone went off. She quickly read the text and let out an excited squeal.
"Well, I'm done here. It's a good thing Lucy is friends with you!" Mirajane smiled brightly and grabbed her sister's arm, dragging the reluctant Lisanna from Natsu's apartment. "Oh, but Natsu," she abruptly stopped and slowly turned. Instead of the cheerful look from five seconds ago, she now wore an evil smile. "If you ever hurt her, I will tear off your limbs and feed them to a bunch of pigs. Later!" Mira finished her threat with an evil laugh and finally exited the room. Natsu collapsed onto his couch and groaned. When he met this girl, he didn't know she came with a horde of demons protecting her!
"Ugh," Natsu heard Gajeel's gruff voice groan. He picked up his head and watched Gajeel collapse to the floor.
"You don't even know the meaning of pain," Natsu hissed.
"Mira?"
"Mira."
"Hey, Mira-nee?" Lisanna tried to find a way to express what she wanted to say, "Do the guys seem different to you?"
"What do you mean Lisanna?" Mira asked, but judging my the knowing twinkle in her eye, she also noticed something was up.
"They just seem...like their old selves. Before the guild was closed, you know?"
"Yeah, I think so too," her sister smiled happily, chanting something under her breath. It sounded like she was saying 'Nalu'.
This is it. Just put the letter in the mailbox, Lucy. You can do it. Come on. Just take a deep breath in and push open the slot. There we go. Now step away from the box- yes, it is illegal to break it so you can get the letter back. Step away. No strangeness. Natsu's teachings will go down the drain if you freak out now.
As you can see, Lucy was very torn about sending her father a reply. Though she was touched at his genuine attempt to get some sort of word from his daughter, she couldn't bring herself to even want to forgive him; every time she considered it, it was like a flashback to the dark nights without a knight to fight away the monsters, and the lonely dinners with her at one end of the table and a maid on either side of her.
Her father had let her down. Time and time again, though he had every chance to make it up, he left her alone to rot in a never ending loneliness. And to think, his stupid reason was because she reminded him of her mother. It's his fault for giving her trust issues. But, there it was, a reply to him. Though it wasn't really much of a reply. All it said was, "Fine, I'll hear what you say for now. I'm not taking any more of your crap." But, hey, it was a start, right?
Lucy stepped away from the mailbox just in time for a man clothed only in boxers to run into her. She hit the ground hard and skidded a bit before coming to a stop.
"Sorry," the raven haired man panted, throwing a cautionary glance over his shoulder. He reached out his hand to help her up.
"It's ok- where are your clothes?" She disregarded his hand and got up herself, taking a couple of steps back when she did. Wait, he seemed familiar. Black hair, stripping...ah! Natsu's friend, Gray!
"Damn it!" He turned around and started for the direction he came in, but decided against it and started heading downtown. Huh, maybe he was late for work. Talking about work, she should talk to Natsu about payment. Heck, she should needed to go home and do her own job, first. Eh, let's kill two birds with one stone. Lucy grabbed her phone and dialed his number. Huh, that's weird. She had it memorized now...
"DEAR GOD MIRA, I'M NOT-" Natsu went into a giant yelling rant that was very heard to deciper. Something about girlfriends and being weird and, for a split second, Lucy's name popped up.
"Natsu?" Lucy cut him off when it sounded like he was going to have a heart attack. Natsu went silent.
"Oh, Lucy, thank God. I thought you were a demon announcing my death," he breathed a sigh of relief. Lucy wasn't sure if she should laugh at his pain or ask what he meant and why it involved Mira of all things, but instead she just ignored everything.
"...I'm going to choose to ignore this whole thing and restart."
"That would be wise."
"Come to my apartment ASAP."
"...so bold of you, Luce."
"What- oh, shut up!" Lucy started to blush. She did NOT think of him that way (well, she didn't really think of anyone that way, but especially him). Natsu was too...Natsu for her to think of him romantically. Seriously, the guy oozed 'nakama power', not 'I'll love you for eternity. Not like she wanted a sappy guy like that. No, she wanted a guy who could be just as weird as her, and could save her when she needed to be saved. A guy where she could jump off a tower and just because she though she heard his voice and still he caught in time.
"Kidding, kidding. Though come on, I'm sexy," he laughed. Lucy smiled as he unknowingly gave her an opportunity for revenge.
"Gray's sexier than you," she stated.
"I AM TEN TIMES THE SEXY MAN THEN THAT ICE SHIT FACE," he yelled, just as Lucy had predicted. It was so easy to insult him. It was kind of beautiful, actually. Lucy suddenly said her thanks to some person named Hiro Mashima. Wait, who's Hiro Mashima? Whoever he was, he sounded important.
"Whatever makes you sleep at night, Natsu." Lucy hung up and started for her apartment, smiling the whole way like an idiot. She didn't know how this happened, but she was more comfortable with this boy then with her own friends. He might not be her first friend, but he was possibly her first best friend.
(In the bushes that were conveniently beside Lucy this entire time)
"Love...rival? No, Lucy is a friend. Lucy is a friend. Friends are not rivals," Juvia argued with herself, and continued to do so until she realized that Gray-sama had already left. What the heck was with this man? Why is she resorting to creepy stalker tactics instead of just talking to him?
The only answer she could think of? Because it's Gray-sama.
(convenient time skip that takes us right to Lucy's apartment. Wohoo!)
"When I said come to my apartment," Lucy growled, stalking over to the boy that was currently relaxing on her couch, "I didn't mean, 'let yourself right in.'" She hit him in the back of the head.
"Geeze Luce, calm down," he rubbed the back of his head. "We're friends, aren't we?"
"Friends don't let friends become felons," she deadpanned.
"Whatever," he waved off the issue. "What am I doing here?"
"Killing two birds with one stone," Lucy walked over to a pile of possible letters to answer. She started shifting through them again. "I need to work, and I need to repay you."
"Hm...getting money straight up is so weird..." he scratched his head as he thought. "Can you cook?"
"Yeah," Lucy shivered as she remembered the cooking lessons she had to go through when she was little. Though the chef was a jolly old man who she loved dearly, when it came to teaching he became an all powerful overlord. Lucy was exceptional at everything she did, but that just made the chef even harder on her. Luckily, the girl still remembered how to make a lot of the foods served in her home.
"You can cook me and my friends some food. We're off on Friday."
"Okay then," He walked over to her window and opened it. "Later," he jumped through. Judging by the surpised gasps coming from outside, he was able ot land perfectly fine. Still, Lucy walked over to the window and stuck her head out just to make sure. There he was, the crazy boy staring up at her with a wicked smile.
"TRY USING THE DOOR, YOU IDIOT!" She screamed, and slammed the window closed before he could answer.
And that concludes this chapter. I'll give you a hint about next time: Make new friends, but keep the old, try not dying by food for the soul- wait, that isn't how the song goes. Hmmmm...
But, we see some things come together! And yeah, next chapter will hopefully be a crazy one where everyone comes together in one place. Muah ha ha, the things I have planned. That's a lie, I have nothing planned. We'll just have to see what my crazy mind thinks up.
There's actually only a few lessons left, but they'll be stretched over a couple of chapters.
Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter. I'd say sorry for it being another filler, but really, everything in here is a filler.
Until next time, my lovely readers.
~NeverMakesSense