Before I start off this chapter, I'd like to say thank you for all of the favorites, follows and reviews for not only this chapter, but for all of them. Seriously guys, I never thought that I would get over 50 of any, but this story currently has: 219 reviews, 230 follows and 151 favorites! I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH! YOU'RE ALL SO AWESOME!
Yeah, so, virtual bacon for you all. I hope you enjoy (though the Nalu moments are scare again. I'm sorry, next chapter will have plenty, I think)
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Fairy Tail, so please don't sue me. Kay?
"Mira, please don't make me do this," Gray pleaded, fiddling with his extremely tight shirt collar. The tie that Mira forced him to wear was starting to suffocate him.
"Come on, Gray. You said you were interested," Mira sung, skipping along the sidewalk as she escorted her hostag- I mean, friend, to Le Monte's cafe. The reluctant boy was on his way to a meeting with Juvia, where they will hopefully hit it off, get married, and have a bunch of Gruvia babies. And then Mirajane will be their favorite aunt and-
"Mira, we're here," Gray interrupted the matchmaker's daydreams. She snapped out of her fangirl mode and went back to the task at hand. Smiling sweetly, she pushed Gray into the cafe, also grabbing Juvia, who was hiding behind a bush, on the way in. Inside, Mira disregarded the hostess and sat them at the best table that was available, despite the malicious glares shot her way from the people who had been waiting for a table fairly.
Screw them, Mira's ship was more important than some kid's tenth birthday or a couple's anniversary.
"Have fun, you two," she hugged them both and skipped out of sight, probably going to hide behind a bush or something crazy like that. Her absence left her two friends to sit in an awkward silence, wondering why did anyone think this was a good idea?
"So," Gray started awkwardly, "how are you?"
Juvia's eyes locked onto him, making him shift uncomfortably in his seat.
"Juvia is well. And Gray-sama?" She didn't blink as she waited for his answer, like it was the most important thing in the world to know if he was okay. The feeling was both really weird and really...nice.
"Just Gray," he winced at the name; too many people called him that. Juvia's eyes widened as she realized that the wince was because of her.
"Juvia is very sorry," she apologized, bowing her head so low and so fast that her forehead made a painful 'thud!' on the table.
"It's okay," Gray said, awkwardly patting her hand as attention from the surrounding tables started to focus on them. "Please pick your head up."
"Okay," the girl complied, sitting up rim rod straight in a matter of milliseconds.
"So," he started again, "did you ever make up with that guy?" Juvia didn't answer right away, filling the boy with curiosity. It was a harmless question, wasn't it?
"No," He heard her sniff, "He left Juvia for the other woman." Gray watched in terror as some tears started to pour down her face. In the distance, he saw some clouds start to gather. He didn't know why he noted that, but it seemed like there was a correlation between this woman's emotions and the weather.
"Oh shit, please stop crying," he begged. Mira was going to kill him if she found out that he made her friend cry.
"Juvia is sorry, Gray-sama," Juvia wailed. Her tears were flying everywhere, some splashing on his face and others collecting in small puddles on the table. Gray was frozen. Crying girls were never in his area of expertise; he had no idea what to do. Well, actually, he did have one idea...
"Come on," Gray grabbed her hand, roughly tugging her from the booth and leading her outside. As if turning off a faucet, the girl stopped crying. Instead, she was staring at their connected hands with a mixed look of embarrassment and amazement. Juvia's face turned a dark shade of red and her eyes were sparkling brilliantly.
"Where are we going?" Juvia breathed.
"Your apartment." He answered.
"Al-already? Juvia is not sure she is ready for this," Her face was a full on tomato red shade as she thought of a thousand different scenarios that were probably very crazy and very untrue. Most of these ideas, of course, having to do with a bed and a shirtless Gray.
"It's okay, I'll help you thorough it," his words did not help with her fantasies.
"Okay," Juvia practically fainted on the spot, but Gray just kept towing her down the street, ignorant of the billions of scenarios that were streaming through her head.
"I loathe you," Lucy hissed as they entered the club. The second they walked in, it was like they walked into another world; the quiet of Lucy's apartment was switched with a slow, rhythmic beat that resonated throughout the room, and the closest thing to a personal bubble was the millimeter of space you got if you skirted around the edge of the room. Lucy bristled at the sight, crinkling her nose at the thought of being near all these people- or, maybe it was the overpowering smell of perfume and desperation. Whatever it was, she did NOT like it, and she indicated her feelings by painfully embedding her nails into Natsu's arm.
"Hate is the cousin of love," Natsu said, grabbing the girl before she could flee. Realizing that he wasn't going to let her get away that easily, Lucy rolled her eyes and sighed.
"Yeah," she spat venomously, "But she's also the sister of murder."
Natsu looked over after her comment, and saw her hold tighten over a coiled object hooked her her hip. He briefly wondered where she got a whip and if she knew how to use it.
"Natsu?" A surprised voice called out, "What are you doing here?"
I guess it was a thought for another day.
"Loke, perfect timing," Natsu dragged his reluctant blonde over to the bar, where the King of the House was having a drink with his 'guest.' The woman narrowed her eyes at the sight of another female, immediately sitting up straight and trying to look intimidating. Peaking a look to the side, Natsu noted, with a glint of pride, that Lucy just stared at her with the most threatening gaze she could muster. Of course, it didn't look as terrifying as she thought it did; heck, he would almost call it cute if it didn't go against his entire being to say so. But, as they say, it's the thought that counts.
"What's up?" Loke asked, intrigued when he noticed that the blonde next to Natsu was connected to him. He was drawn in even more when he realized that she was, in a word, gorgeous: her bright blonde hair swept to the side in a ponytail, the side pieces coming down to frame her pretty face. A pink tank top that fit in all the right places and a skirt that wasn't too short, but short enough to let the mind fantasize a bit-
"Are you almost done?" Natsu jerked his head toward the irritated woman sitting next to Loke, who crossed her arms and huffed in annoyance as she realized that her time was going to be up.
"Yeah, actually," he glanced at his watch, confirming that it was time for him to go. Though, come on, we all know he would have left her anyway to go after the beautiful blonde. Nodding politely to his guest, Loke grabbed a fellow Heart member, shoved him in his seat and followed Natsu to one of the empty back rooms. Lucy sighed in relief, happy to be out of the mob of people but ignorant to the new torture she was about to endure.
"I have a favor to ask," Natsu ran his fingers through his hair as he thought of how to actually phrase his request. "Would you mind-"
"Did it hurt?" Loke ignored Natsu's epic struggle for words, instead focusing his attention on his blonde friend.
"Did what hurt?" She asked, confused at the random turn in conversation.
"When you fell out of heaven," he smiled suavely and picked up her hand, bringing it to his lips.
"Huh?" Lucy looked over at Natsu for an explanation.
"It's a pick up line," He supplied, "Don't take it literally."
"Oh," she blinked, "I...knew that..."
"Sure you did," Natsu rolled his eyes. Lucy blushed and looked away, probably because this was a rare moment where Natsu knew something she didn't. He smiled to himself, relishing the feeling of being right for once; most of the time, he was wrong.
"Wait, you don't know what a pick up line is?" Loke's eyes were practically the size of dinner plates as he gazed at the girl in wonder. The gorgeous girl who probably had billions of lines like his showered on her every day. What, did she just stay in her apartment all day?
"Nope, that's why I brought her to you," Natsu sighed, "she needs to learn the fine points of flirting before her date." He looked at Loke with pleading eyes, but his friend seemed to deflate at the mention of 'date'.
"Shut up, it isn't a date," She huffed. Loke seemed to perk up at her words, new found hope filling the womanizer. Lucy's eyes flickered as an idea occurred to her, and she spun around and slapped his arm, hard. "Wait, that's why we're here? Why couldn't I just do this with you?!"
"Ew, why would I want to do that?" Natsu's nose crinkled at the thought of him trying to seduce her with phrases that were, most of the time, incredibly corny and stupid. In the Trimens case, it also included purchasing a lot of glitter and letting it glitter in the air around him.
"Because you're my friend!" She slapped his arm again in the same spot.
"Exactly, so it wouldn't work if I did it," he argued, rubbing his now sore arm. Natsu was amazed by Lucy's secret strength once again.
"What kind of logic is that?" She moved to hit him again.
"The logical kind," Natsu stepped back from her advance and held a pillow between them.
"You two are only friends?" Loke interjected. By the way they were arguing, they seemed more like an old married couple than two casual friends. The arguing pair abruptly stopped and turned to glare at him for interrupting.
"What else would we be?" Lucy snapped. She went back to scream at Natsu while Happy came up behind Loke and tapped him on the shoulder. Suppressing a shriek of pure terror, Loke turned to the cat and leaned in to hear what he had to say.
"They liiiiiiike each other," Happy whispered loudly. The pair abruptly stopped arguing and glared at the cat with murderous eyes, making him fly behind the couch.
"Okay then," Loke pushed his glasses up and steered the seething girl, who looked like the one most inclined to murder at the moment, as far away from her pink haired 'friend' and his cat as space would allow. He would prefer not getting blood on his nice clothes.
"Give me an hour," Loke smirked confidently, though he was secretly terrified to be talking to Natsu's possible (however unlikely it seemed) girlfriend, "She'll be able to make even you blush."
For some reason, Natsu shivered at the thought. Knowing that it was odd, but not really caring about why it made him feel that way, Natsu gabbed his cat by the tail and dragged him out of the room.
"Gray-sama? What are you doing?" Juvia asked, watching his movements with curious eyes. Currently, Juvia was sitting Indian style on her bed while Gray was piling every single item that belonged to Lyon in the center of her room. The pile consisted mostly of clothes, but there were also a couple of more personal things like his i-pod and his precious snow globe collection that made Juvia nervous every time they were thrown carelessly into the middle of the room.
"Revenge," he answered simply.
"Juvia still does not understand," she threw the last of Lyon's items into Gray's outstretched hand. "How is putting all of Lyon's stuff in a pile considered revenge?"
"Because we can do this," Gray pressed his hands together and mumbled an incantation. A cold mist enveloped the pile of Lyon's stuff and within seconds it was no longer a pile of shirts and snow globes but a solid block of ice.
"What is the point of turning his stuff into ice?" She wondered, questioning the boy's sanity when he left the room and came back in with Juvia's baseball bat.
"Take the bat and find out," he tossed the bat in the air and caught it, offering the end to the hesitant woman. She took it, of course, because it was Gray-sama telling her to, but she still couldn't see what he was trying to accomplish. Still, she swung the bat back and let it fly toward the giant ice block. The metal made contact with a satisfying 'THWACK!', sheering off the top of the ice and making it shatter into a bunch of tiny shards. They glittered around the room like a bunch of falling stars suspended in air, making Juvia gasp at the beauty of it all. It was even more satisfying to know that it was her treacherous fiance's stuff falling to pieces.
"That feels..." she struggled to find a word that described how she felt, "...amazing," Swinging her arms back once more, she let them fly forward with all of the force that she could muster. All of the pain, all of the agony that she was forced to burden was concentrated in that one swing. This time she destroyed an even bigger piece, practically demolishing half of the remaining ice. It scattered around the room, making the sunlight streaming in through the window bounce in a colorful spectrum across her bedroom walls.
"Do you want to try, Gray-sama?" She asked, feeling as light as a feather from this exhilarating high. He looked between her and the pile, mentally deciding. After a couple of seconds, he shrugged and took the bat from her. He pictured the ice to be one of his bosses and let the bat swing. It bit off a chunk, spraying his malicious feelings all over the room and letting them melt away. Juvia was right; in a word, he felt amazing.
"Your turn," he handed the bat back to her, which she took eagerly. Taking a deep breath, she positioned herself in a batter's stance.
"THIS IS FOR MAKING FUN OF THE WAY JUVIA SPEAKS!" She screamed, so loud it obviously needed to be written in all capitals, and with a nice crunch another part of Lyon's stuff broke apart. The bat found it's way back into Gray's hands.
"This is for being a slave for most of my childhood," he muttered darkly. A swing and a hit.
"FOR CHEATING ON ME WITH A FREAKING PINKETTE!" It was like a war cry.
"FOR BEING STUCK WITH NATSU!" Actually, Natsu wasn't that bad...
"FOR MAKING JUVIA PLAN A WEDDING WITH YOUR SISTER!"
"FOR MAKING BOB MY BOSS!"
"WHY ARE WE YELLING?" Juvia wondered.
"I DON'T KNOW, BUT IT FEELS AWESOME!" Gray laughed maniacally.
"I LOVE YOU GRAY-SAMA!"
"YOU KNOW WHAT, YOU AREN'T THAT BAD EITHER!"
Natsu never knew that an hour could feel so long. It was as if every clock was out to get him. He would wait and wait, and just when he was sure that at least 20 minutes had passed he would check his phone just in time to see the minute change by one. He didn't even fully understand why he was feeling so anxious. It was just the thought of Lucy, innocent, nice Lucy, being alone in a room with Loke. Loke, the man who once talked a roomful of girls to agree to date him at the same time. The lion boy was a good friend of Natsu's, don't get him wrong, but Natsu was still suspicious of him.
To make himself cool off, Natsu decided to go and take a walk around town. Happy flew ahead of him, happy to be out in the fresh and clean air, but Natsu wasn't able to share in his excitement. His mind was still riddled with questions of: What are they doing? Will she be okay?
"Ne, Natsu, what's wrong?" His cat flew up and looped back to his master, "You've been acting weird all day."
"I don't really know," Natsu mused, "Maybe Lucy's been rubbing off on me."
Laughing at his answer, Happy took off once again. Natsu laughed with him and ran to catch up, trying to shove his ticking clock aside. They chased each other through the town in an epic game of tag, looping back every once and a while to make sure that they didn't get too far away from the House so they wouldn't be late when the hour was up. Lucy was always one for being punctual: she said it was one of the things celestial mages valued.
"We better go back," Natsu stopped their game after a while. He took a peek at his cellphone to reveal that the hour was indeed almost up. Happy hit his owner on the head and flew back in the direction of the House. Natsu was about to start running after him when a dash of red caught his eye. Upon closer inspection, Natsu noticed that a red headed woman was crouching next to a barrel farther into the alley. She was watching something even further down the alley with total concentration. Shifting his eyes in the direction of the house, Natsu tried to decide whether or not he should see what she was up to. It wasn't his business, but...
He figured that Lucy could wait and decided to investigate this sketchy woman. Tapping into his inner ninja, Natsu was able to sneak up right behind her, but she abruptly threw her arm back and caught him around his neck, painfully dragging him down next to her. She shoved her hand over his mouth and motioned for him to be quiet.
Her eyes re-focused on a little trio in the distance. It consisted of a brunette woman wearing an obnoxiously green dress, another man with a weird purple suit of armor, and a third man with black hair and clothes. The first two were looking at the other man with an air of distrust, but still continued with their conversation.
"One week. Are the guilds ready?" The woman asked the man with black hair. He nodded silently, casting a careful gaze around their surroundings. Well, it was obviously not careful enough.
"Ugh, you never speak, don't you," she whined, "you useless man."
"Now, Ever," the guy in purple chuckled, "There's no need to be nasty to him."
"Whatever," she rolled her eyes at her companion's words, "Just remember your part of the plan," she started to walk away. "We'll see you in one week, Cahz." The woman grabbed the purple man by the collar and dragged him away. The third man lingered for a moment, watching them leave, and then disappeared into the shadows. Literally, it was as if he was swallowed by the inky blackness of the alley.
"What is happening?" The woman groaned. She dropped Natsu on the ground and started to run out of the alley, mumbling profanities to herself and leaving the boy to wonder what the hell just happened. He would've shaken the whole event off it it wasn't for one thing:
Before the man with black hair disappeared, he muttered something that only a Dragon Slayer's ears could pick up. Natsu couldn't discern what it was exactly, but that didn't matter. What really mattered was the fact that it sounded really familiar.
He has heard that voice recently. Natsu wasn't sure when or where, but he knew that he heard it before.
"Natsu!" Happy's voice called, "come quick! Lucy's acting all weird!"
Natsu groaned and started to drag himself out of the alley, wondering what the hell was going on.
Huh, I wonder if this chapter revealed anything. I feel like it didn't, but yet, I know that it did. It's up to you guys if you can find it. Hopefully you won't have to wait another three months to find out; Thanksgiving break should give me a bit of time to write. But, I do have an actual book idea that I've been working on...its pretty sad and depressing though.
So of course I'm really excited about it!
Okay, so, please review and tell me what you think! I've kinda gotten out of touch with this story, and I can't even tell if I'm back on track or not. Kinda depending on you guys to help me out with that.
May the Nalu ship sail on into the sunset sometime soon.
~NeverMakesSense