A/N: Study. Study. Study. /: Finally found time to update!
Decoding
Laxus Dreyar was entirely too many things: too hot, too rich, too manipulating. And he has his sights set out for a certain, unsuspecting Heartfillia.
Chapter Ten
Crash and Burn
"You step a foot out of this house and you no longer hold the family name, nor will you mean anything to me. Do I make myself clear?"
"It's a little late for that, father. I never did anyway."
. . .
The pretty young secretary knocked on the door leading to the CEO of Grimiore Hearts. Upon opening the door, she was beckoned forward.
"Ultear. I trust you have the report."
She sat down on the opposite chair and flipped her dark purple hair behind her. "Laxus Dreyar is still confirmed to be next in line for Dreyar Corps after graduation. Your business partner isn't budging, Master Hades."
It was a known fact that Ivan Dreyar only wanted to pass the seat over to his son so early because he didn't want his old man coming back when he leaves to expand the company in other parts of the world. He knows that Makarov wasn't fond of that decision, but getting the wretched old geezer involved could complicate things for Hades and his company. The kid seemed pretty adamant about inheriting the title, anyway.
"The kid, Laxus Dreyar. I want his report," Hades demanded with a distasteful frown.
Ultear slid a folder across the high-tech glass table. "I took the liberty to do some extra research on Laxus Dreyar," she reported, giving general information on the Dreyar heir before showing her boss the pictures she ordered her agents to take. "He's quite the lady's man."
The photographs all depicted the same scene: beautiful females hanging around the Dreyar. They were all taken from a distance and all quite useless. "Ultear," he warned.
"I'm not finished yet, Master Hades," her expression was confident. She pointed to the last few pictures, all which Laxus Dreyar had the same pretty blond female with him, and one of an alluring silver haired model. "He's been spotted around this girl frequently, but as of Saturday, he's engaged to the young London model Angel Aguria."
Hades leaned in. "Go on."
Ultear smiled, "He doesn't show the least bit of interest in his fiancée, likely because he's not the type to be tied down. It was rumored that he was also engaged at fifteen to an heiress in America, but he blew that arrangement off quite deliberately."
"What of the other one, then?" a white eyebrow raised, "Do you suspect there's something going on with these two?" bored the CEO as he eyed the blond female in the pictures. "She's just a girl."
"I suspect that he has a thing for her. My agents have told me that he's been around this particular blond for a while, longer than all the other females. And if there's one thing to know about Laxus Dreyar, it's that he's never serious with a female. This girl poses no gain for him, either."
"Who is she?"
"That, I haven't quite looked into yet. She's attending Fairy Tail High as a scholarship-fund student, but there may be more to her background. My agents are sending a report to me this afternoon," she confessed. "Master, I cannot say for certain if she's of any importance for now, but if their relation doesn't deter, she may be of great use to us in the future."
Hades was delighted. The female in the photographs looked, for the lack of a better word, determined to get away from the powerful heir. But the boy himself seemed amused with every antic she pulls to carry out that task. She's defiant, he concluded, it keeps a man's interest.
"You've done well," the CEO smirked, praising his trusted secretary. A plan was forming his head already. "I want to know more about the two of them. Report back anything worth telling."
"Yes, Master Hades," his secretary obeyed, standing up after the subtle dismissal.
"Oh, and Ultear...I got one more thing for you to do."
. . .
Ugh... She finally managed to stop the sneezing after two days, but now an irritable headache was starting to form, ticking away in her head. Lucy glanced at the clock; it was luckily her last class of the day and she will be able to get out of here just after...
She scowled, remembering the convenient task Laxus had appointed to her earlier this morning. Helping setting up the props for the school play was certainly not a council member's job, the blond haired president was just trying to get a kick out of her pain for what she could only assume was payback for her snappy attitude the other day. I regret nothing, she huffed.
When the final bell rang, Lucy packed up her notes with a sigh and trudged out the classroom to the auditorium where the acting class was reciting.
The council were all in favor of Romeo and Juliet, and that was what the class was doing. She wasn't one to perform in front of a crowd, but she always admired actors and actresses in old, famous plays.
"My ears have not yet drunk a hundred words of that tongue's utterance, yet I know the sound: Art thou not Romeo and a Montague?" Lucy witnessed a robust redhead proclaim dramatically through the dim theatre when she walked in.
"Neither, fair saint, if either thee dislike," the third-year playing Romeo replied, with hands outstretched. They were in the middle of the stage, for the stage crafts weren't set up yet. No, that was her job. Lucy scooted to the back where the set up crew was assembling the props for the balcony scene in the play. A lanky blond with a clipboard tapped her on the shoulder.
"Are you Heartfilla-san?" he asked.
"That's me," she replied, hands reaching out to shake the male's. He gladly took it with an excited grin. "So what do you guys want me to do?" she asked.
"Aha, it's very simple; please go to the west side storage room and grab all the decorated wooden boards. We need to put together the buildings right now, so, uh, you can use the metal cart."
Lucy's eyes almost popped out of her sockets. He was crazy to think she was going to travel across the school to fetch his set of ten pound wooden boards! "Uh, this is a joke, right?"
"No, but I'd love to see those boards...now."
No matter how much of a wimp the blond male looked, he was bossy. They had a mini stare-down, and finally Lucy sighed. She heeded to acknowledge his order to return within ten minutes, and grabbed the cart and rolled it out the auditorium. The brightness that contrasted sharply from the dark theatre room and it made her head spin. The wheels on the cart didn't help much as it squeaked a little when she made a sharp turn, the sound worsening the dizzy spiral going on inside her head. Her face felt hot. I must be coming down with the cold.
It took her five minutes to reach the west side storage room and she was relieved when she saw that the lock on the storage room door was unlocked. Rolling the giant metal cart in, she went on a hunt for those boards as another student from the stage craft department walked in.
"Who are you?" The patronizing tone was definitely there.
"Lucy Heartfilla, I'm from the student council to help you guys with the play today."
"Oh," he didn't look impressed, to say the least. "The scholar-fund student, I believe? Well, carry on then."
His tone of voice made Lucy's blood boil. It irritated her to no end when rich people looked down upon others who were a little less fortunate. As a Heartfilla who once carried the last name with pride for her father, Lucy never forgot to treat everyone equally and with respect, be it the maids or cooks in the manor or common folks down the street. Her mother never let her. If only her father and the rest of the high-class society could see things the same way...
She wasn't closed-minded enough to assume everyone was like that, but she knew most of them didn't know the joys of being just a common nobody sometimes. To them, it was all about status. To her, she could care less.
Oh well. You can't change them in a day.
Getting back to her mission to find the large boards, she momentarily glanced at the other male, who deservingly was having a hard time stabilizing a white-washed wooden pillar. The struggle between the two was like an umbrella battling a typhoon... but as Lucy watched on, she saw that the pillar wasn't planning to stay upright any longer and swung downwards towards the panicking male.
It took no time for her to jump into action. "Watch out!"
. . .
"Angel Aguria. To what do I owe the pleasure?" Laxus mocked when the silver haired beauty walked into the student council room where he was lounging. He often found himself staying at school longer than necessary these few days for the sole purpose of avoiding Ivan.
Angel took a seat on top of the glazed oak desk, crossing her long legs sensually and pouted. The school uniform fitted very one of her curves perfectly, but it was a shame that he didn't want her here.
"What, I can't see my fiancé now?"
"Funny you say that," the blond smirked, "I was under the impression that you didn't like me any more than I liked you."
"You're right. I don't like you at all," she said.
"Then why bother?" he asked. His thoughts travelled to the busty blond who was probably cursing his whole family for making her stay after school. The way her eyes twitched as crimson spread across her face in anger was so...amusing.
Angel reached out a manicured hand to trace the male's strong jawline, bringing his attention back to her. She smiled. "I like messing with people. You're extra fun because I also get to mess with that ditzy blond you keep around as a toy," her eyes gleamed with a devilish glint, "You know, I'm inviting her to my party next week. You should come."
"I'll keep that in mind," Laxus almost admired the way she possessed cunning thoughts that rivalled his own, but it was masked by the annoyance he felt whenever it she tried to direct it at him. He watched as she twirled a strand of hair between her index finger, her grin having an underlying purpose. Oh, he was not someone she could easily wrap her little fingers around. "I feel that's not the only reason you came to find me, is it?"
She giggled lightly behind her hand. "Well, I did hear from daddy that Ivan-san is planning on investing with us back in London."
That was hardly news; Ivan made Angel his fiancée because he was thinking about strengthening the relationship between the Agurias. Even though they were not as powerful as Dreyar Corps, they proved to be a worthy alliance but was pesky about joining together.
"Ivan-san's on his way to London right now to seal the deal with daddy and arrange for our marriage date," she slid off the table and walked behind Laxus, wrapping her skinny arms around his neck. The clinch of his jaw went unnoticed.
"Is he, now?"
She closed in and whispered, "Mhmm. But don't worry, I won't let daddy go through with the marriage. I don't want to marry you," she kissed his ear gently.
Laxus smirked, there it was. She could be cunning all she wanted, but at the end, she was just a scared little girl. "Really? Are you afraid of me, my angel?"
"You're cute," her arms left his body. He made sure she saw the way he looked at her up and down as if she was nothing worth noticing. "But not cute enough for me." With that, she sauntered out of the office, the sound of her heels clicking with every step.
Don't forget that I like messing with people too, Aguria. Laxus hooked the red blazer-jacket over his shoulder and walked out behind the female. Everything was playing out perfectly for him; It was sweet of the vixen to deliver the news to him that Ivan was out of the country, and even better, he no longer had to deal with this unwanted marriage.
A wider smirk pulled across his face and he decided to pay his toy a visit. He'd imagine she was down by the storage room, where he ordered the lanky stage craft manager to send her. Nothing better than hard labour, he chuckled, making his way towards his intended destination.
For some reason, she always seem to make the most boring days interesting.
"Watch out!" There was a loud commotion in the storage room and that yell sounded like Lucy. He furrowed his brows, quickening his pace.
He was met with the sight of a cloud of dust and then a fallen pillar inches away from a shaken male. There seemed to be an accident, but the male didn't look hurt. His eyes instantly travelled to Lucy, who was flushed and breathing hard.
"Heartfilla," he was next to the blond female within seconds, an outstretched hand offering to help her up. She didn't take it.
"P-President Dreyar!" the black haired male instantly to his feet, trying to coherently babble out an excuse. "The pillar was unstable and...and she,"—he pointed to Lucy accusingly—"intervened!"
"Leave." Laxus didn't give him a second glance and the male scurried out of the room. His cobalt eyes were trained on Lucy as she stood up, her legs trembling slightly. "Are you okay?" he was surprised that he sounded worried.
Lucy scuffed, "Nothing...you should be worried about..." She swayed a little, the flush was not leaving her face.
"Hey," Laxus reached out to stable the girl but was met with a glare. However, he grabbed her arm anyway.
She was not looking too good. Stupid girl.
"Let go of me you asshole!" Lucy was aggravated and she felt the temperature rising in her face alone. The rush must have made all the blood flow to her head and now it was pulsing pain added on to her nauseating headache.
She flinched when Laxus drew closer to her. If it was possible, her face glowed an even brighter red with the close proximity. His face was just centimetres away and it suddenly became harder for her to breathe.
"G-get away..." she trailed on, confused when his forehead touched her own.
Laxus held onto her tighter, but not enough to give her any discomfort, as he felt the burn of her forehead on his. "You're sick," he said almost annoyingly.
Lucy didn't reply him although she wanted to retort with something snarky and sarcastic. She simply couldn't find the energy to do it. Instead, she closed her eyes. The last thing she felt was strong arms swiping her off the ground and carrying her away.
. . .
Mirajane glanced at the clock and then back at the phone. It wasn't like Lucy to be so late to work without calling in a reason. She didn't care if the younger girl was late, but she grew worried about the lack of explanation.
She had called the girl's loud salmon haired friend, but he didn't have good news. Oh dear, I do hope Lucy is safe and alright...
"Mira-nee-san, are you okay?" Elfman clasped a large, tan hand on his fidgeting sister's shoulder.
"I'm worried about Lucy, Elfman, I tried calling her but her phone was dead. It's unlike her to just disappear. I think I should go out and see if she's okay...You stay here to tell Lisanna when she comes back."
Just as she was ready to go out and search for Lucy, her younger sister walked in with a poised young man. She recognized the stitching on his red uniform as the school Lucy attended.
"I'm back, Mira-nee!" Lisanna greeted. She set down her black book bag and told the male to sit (he declined politely) before introducing him to her wide-eyed siblings. "You guys, this is Freed Justine."
The young junior took one look at her overprotective brother and she knew what was going on in his mind. She giggled. "Oh chill nii-san! He's too old for me, I was just showing him the way here."
The buff male visibly sagged as he let out a breath he didn't know he was even holding. Mirajane shook her head with a laugh, but her expression soon turned serious again when she remembered the important task at hand. She turned to the "visitor" and politely yet urgently asked him what it was he needed.
Freed walked up to the slightly older white haired beauty, "I am here to inform and assure you that Heartfilla-san is fine however she will not be able to come to work today."
"So she's okay?" Mirajane relaxed. "But why didn't she tell me?"
"Heartfilla-san's cold worsened during the day,"—Her eyes widened with worry again at his report—"but she is being taken cared of as we speak by our student body president, Laxus Dreyar."
"If you say so..." ever the worrier, she was still a bit unsure about the well-being of her little-sister she never had but came to love and care for.
"I promise she's in good hands," Freed said sincerely. That seemed to reassure the female enough that she gave him smile. It was a gorgeously warm smile.
"I believe you, Freed-san."
He felt his heart leap out of his chest for the first time.