A cloud of dust was settling and Lucy could see a pile of rubble that had once been a marble column. She heard someone chuckling and turned around.
Laxus was standing there—clutching his stomach and shaking with laughter. "You can call yourself a true Fairy Tail wizard now," he said between gulps of air. "You've finally destroyed a building."
How could he think this was funny? She fumed silently. It would cost a ton of money to fix the damage and a small crowd was beginning to form, adding to her embarrassment. A slow flush began to creep into her cheeks.
A man in an ugly plaid suit was running towards her. It was the Mayor and he looked mad. Excuses and wild thoughts began to fill her mind. Maybe she could blame the incident on an earthquake, or an evil curse? The Mayor had almost reached her when Laxus stepped in front of her.
He cleared his throat and the Mayor stopped running. "Kind Sir, are you the proprietor of this establishment?" asked Laxus. Lucy gaped at him. She had never heard Laxus sound so curteous and professional. It appeared that Laxus had some experience in dealing with unhappy customers.
The Mayor glanced at Laxus, taking him in. "Who are you?" he asked.
Laxus held out his hand. "Laxus Dreyer. The grandson of Fairy Tail's master, Makarov Dreyer." The Mayor shook his hand, although he was clearly confused. Laxus continued, undaunted. "I saw what happened here and I extend my deepest apologies. The damage done to your building is an outrage and you should be compensated for the repairs."
"I'll say," agreed the Mayor. He scowled at Lucy, making her blush deepen. "What kind of wizards does your Guild employ? This woman nearly brought down the entire building. She should be fired immediately."
Laxus's eyebrows creased and Lucy heard the buzz of electricity in the air. She looked down at his hands and saw traces of electric current dance across his fingers.
The Mayor seemed to realize his comments had pushed Laxus too far. "Although, I trust your judgment on how to best reprimand your employees," he added quickly.
Laxus relaxed and flashed the Mayor a charming smile. "Of course, I will see that she is appropriately punished." His voice dropped to a sinister tone when he spoke the last word. Laxus was clearly planning something and Lucy didn't really want to know what it was. It seemed like he was almost enjoying himself. She covered her face with her hands, and wished she could shrink.
Laxus walked over to the tunnel and examined the hole that Virgo had just created. "On a positive note, it looks like the tunnel is complete," he said. "The fee for the tunnel should be subtracted from the repair costs for the column."
"Absolutely not!" exclaimed the Mayor. "This woman has caused a scene, you are lucky I'm not suing your Guild."
New trails of electric current danced across Laxus's chest and his face went slack. The Mayor's eyes widened and he stammered. "W-well maybe we can work something out. You seem like a reasonable fellow. The cost of repairs minus the fee for the tunnel does sound pretty reasonable now that I think about it."
Laxus smiled and clapped a large hand on the Mayor's back, nearly making the small man fall over. "I'm glad we could reach an agreement," Laxus said. He nudged Lucy in the ribs. "Lucy, don't you have something to say?"
God, he sounded like her father. Lucy swallowed her embarrassment. "I'm very sorry for the trouble I've caused you Sir," she squeaked.
The Mayor grunted. He and Laxus discussed a few more minor details and before she knew it, the fiasco was over. The Mayor walked away and Lucy turned to do likewise.
"Hey, wait up." Laxus grabbed her arm, but she pulled it back. Tears began to well and she walked faster.
"Lucy!" Laxus called after her and jogged to catch up. "Lucy, what's wrong?"
"I don't want to talk right now. I've just lost a week's worth of income and was reprimanded in front of half a town."
Laxus jumped in front of her, blocking her. She was forced to stop and look at him. "Hey, it's okay. It's only money," he said, pulling her into an embrace. "At least nobody was hurt, right?"
She let him hold her. It felt like it had been ages since they had last had contact with one another, and Lucy was realizing how much she missed the feeling. She rubbed her cheek across his chest, enjoying the feel of the warm skin beneath his cotton shirt. "I'm really sorry I was so mad at you," she whispered.
He exhaled deeply and slouched slightly, as if he had been tense. "I'm sorry too. I've missed you."
"Get the fuck off of her!"
Laxus turned to see who was screaming and was immediately hit in the face with a fiery fist.
"Natsu!" exclaimed Lucy.
Her pink-haired friend was breathing hard, glaring at Laxus. His fists were raised in a boxer's stance, ready for another attack.
Laxus spat out a wad of blood and slowly rubbed his chin, assessing the impact of the blow. "That was a cheap shot," he said, moving in front of Lucy. The lightning mage was positioning himself for a fight, although Lucy was a little surprised that he hadn't immediately hauled off and hit Natsu back.
"What are you doing to Lucy? Why is she crying?" Natsu demanded.
Laxus snorted. "I was just trying to make her feel better. She fucked up your team's mission and is feeling shitty." Lucy didn't like hearing that she had fucked up the mission, but Laxus was clearly agitated so she let it slide.
Natsu looked towards the building and finally notice the fallen column. "Luce—you did that?" he asked. The suprise in his voice annoyed her. Lucy had seen her partner destroy at least four buildings, one of which had been her childhood home. Why was he so shocked over one little column.
She felt heat creep back into her cheeks. "Well, it wasn't me exactly. Virgo got a little carried away while she was tunneling."
Natsu relaxed from his fighting stance. "But that doesn't explain why he's here." He waved a hand at Laxus and didn't bother to hide the disgust in his voice.
Natsu's anger was unusual. He had always been fond of Laxus— even when the lightning mage had decided to sort out the weaker members of the Guild, Natsu had believed in Laxus's character. Now, he looked like he wanted to pummel the guy.
"Natsu, don't be so angry," she said, trying to console him.
"Come on, Luce—". He lifted her arm, trying to lead her away. "For better or worse, the mission is complete. We don't need to stay around here anymore."
Laxus took Lucy's other arm, making her hang between the two men.
"I want to talk to Lucy," Laxus said coolly.
"Too bad," said Natsu. Flames wrapped around his balled up first.
"Both of you need to let me go," Lucy snapped. "You're going to dislocate my shoulder if you keep pulling like that."
Natsu and Laxus looked at each other and then dropped her arms at the same time. Lucy stepped back, not wanting to get into another tug of war. She didn't know how to fix the issue between them but she decided to try appealing to Natsu first.
"Natsu, I appreciate you're concern—" she started.
He glared at her with enough anger to make her stop short. "You're kidding me, right? You can't seriously be considering getting back together with him, are you?"
Lucy's jaw dropped. Natsu had never been angry with her, much less spoken to her like this. She was too shocked to respond.
"Stop yelling at her. If we get back together, that's our business, not yours," Laxus said.
Natsu threw another fist at Laxus, but the lightning mage was prepared this time. He easily dodged it and threw his own punch, connecting with Natsu's gut. The Salamander crumpled to the ground.
"Oh God, Natsu!" Lucy fell to her knees beside her fallen friend. She put an arm on his shoulder but he shrugged it off and staggered back up to his feet.
"I can't watch you put yourself through this again. If you want to be with this creep, fine. I won't stop you. But don't come crying back to me again when he hurts you again." Natsu turned and stomped away, leaving Lucy speechless.
Laxus helped her back up. "Are you okay? He shouldn't have taken it out on you."
"What? What was he taking out on me?" she asked. She looked up at Laxus, hoping he could make sense of what had just happened. It felt like she was going to start crying again.
"Natsu's just got a lot of mixed up emotions right now. I think he's having trouble expressing himself." He gave her a weak smile. "Don't worry. I don't think he'll stay mad at you for long."
Lucy blinked back tears. She had already cried once that day and she didn't want Laxus to start thinking she was an emotional basket-case.
"Okay, but I should go after him and try to talk," she said.
"I'd give him some time to cool off. If you chase after him now, he's likely to still be mad and you two will have another fight."
Lucy chewed her lip a moment. "I guess your right." She changed the subject. "You didn't have to hit him so hard."
Laxus gave her a worried glance. "I tried to hold back. But he started it. You're not mad, are you?"
That was different. "No, I'm not mad," she said. "Just tired."
He put his arm around her and they started walking down the town's street. "How about we get an early dinner? It will be my treat."
Luffy fan: Thanks for reading. I had to completely re-write this chapter because I didn't like my first take on it. I hope you all enjoyed it. Reminder—It's not too late to sign up for the writing challenge in the forums. We have a couple folks and are just getting started.