A/N: Bonus Chapter! I wanted to give this story a proper ending since it is my first Fanfic :) (Added to the fact that this was the first story I actually decided to post and not regret) But yeah... Read on Fictioners!
Summary: Lucy learns that there was more to that day than she realized. Well, not that much. But at least she learns why she's called 'Bunny Girl' (by a certain Bluenette's Iron Dragon Slayer) and she is fondly reminded that not all was broken between her and father. That day wasn't how she imagined it happening but she would never regret the way that it did.
Disclaimer: Fairy Tail (c) Hiro Mashima
The Day That Started It All: Bonus Chapter
The guild had finally settled down from their recent brawl.
Thank Mavis!
Erza had gotten another cake, thankfully calming the red-head from doing any serious damages to the guild. Juvia (returning from a recent solo mission) practically dragged Grey into another one of her 'admiration' rants, blushing after she noticed he was in his boxers. And then Natsu... Lucy sweat-dropped. The blonde mage was sure he was going to start another brawl in seconds. Well... after he got up from his unconscious state that is.
According to Happy, the salmon haired boy was the first on Erza's 'Cake Retribution' list. Grey was next but Wendy intervened and offered Erza another strawberry cake. The Sky Dragon Slayer was confident that, with Natsu's hard head, he would have survived any one of the Re-equip mage's blows. The Ice Make mage was a different story. Anyway, Happy (Along with Lucy's effort) had managed to drag the unconscious Dragon Slayer over to a stool and sat him down.
Lucy slumped into the seat next to him and sadly look around the guild. Chairs, tables and plates were broken. Splinters of broken mugs were also scattered around the floor. Squinting her eyes, she was sure she saw Gajeel picking up the iron lining to a few of them and started eating it. A support beam or two were cracked, if not destroyed. Hell! Someone had even managed to break the railing to the second story!
She was glad Master Makarov had decided to step out in search of... whatever he was looking for.
At the rate they ('they' meaning Team Natsu and excluding herself) were destroying things, Lucy was sure that she would never get her rent money, possibly be kicked out onto the street and homeless! A dark, depressed aura enveloped the blonde at that thought. Like a few moments ago, she curled onto her seat and held her head between her hands. She would lie if she said she wasn't panicking. If push came to shove, Natsu and Happy would probably drag her to their house in efforts to right their wrongs.
"But that's even worse than being homeless!" Lucy muttered, sympathizing with her own train of thought.
"What's even worse than being homeless, Lu-chan?"
A sweet voice asked from in front of the blonde. Lucy looked up immediately and almost cried in relief when she saw Levy McGarden, her blue-haired best friend. The Celestial mage enveloped Levy from here she was sitting, burying her face into the bluenette's stomach.
"Levy-chan!" She cried happily, "Thank the Spirits you're here! Mavis knows that I need sanity right now."
"Gihi!" A chuckle resonated from the left of them, "Ain't that the truth!"
"Gajeel," Levy warned, wrapping her arms around her best friend.
The Iron Dragon Slayer smirked, "Can't blame me, Shrimp. Bunny Girl is the only one crazy enough to partner up with Salamander. He's an idiot."
"What was that?!" Natsu roared, jumping up from his seat and glaring at the other Dragon slayer.
Lucy shrieked, both from surprise (since the Fire Dragon Slayer was knocked out just a second ago) and worry (because obviously she was correct in assuming the salmon haired boy would try to fight the second he got up). Gajeel scowled instantly, standing straighter to try and intimidate the shorter male. But who was he kidding? This was Natsu they were talking about! He rarely gets scared, much less being intimidated from the Iron Dragon Slayer himself. So in true Fairy Tail (or maybe Dragon Slayer?) nature, they butted heads, glaring into each other's eyes.
"I'm only speaking the truth!" Gajeel replied in a rough tone. "Bunny Girl is going to go crazy if she stays partnered up with you!"
"I don't care about that!" Natsu growled, "You called me an Idiot!"
"Is that are you care about Salamander?!" Gajeel shouted out, a flash of surprise crossing his eyes.
"Yeah! So what?!"
Lucy sweat-dropped along with Levy and Gajeel. The Iron Dragon Slayer sighed tiredly, rubbing the skin between his eyes. Let it be Natsu to make a point like that. It didn't surprise them, even if it hurt just a little in Lucy's case. Because honestly, what did they expect?
"Nothing," Gajeel rolled his eyes, folding his arms across his chest, "You truly are an idiot, Salamander."
"I am not!"
"Right," the Iron Dragon Slayer snorted out a laugh, "You don't care about Bunny Girl's sanity even though she's your partner, supposedly."
Fury crossed Natsu's face as he glared hatefully at the taller male, "That's not true."
"Well, he's got a point," Lucy muttered under her breath, Levy nodded in agreement. The Fire Dragon Slayer whipped his gaze towards the blond, hurt crossing his features. "What?!" She asked, her eyes wide, "You're the one that said it the first place! I was just agreeing with what you said!"
"C'mon, Luce. You know I didn't mean it like that."
"Gihi," Gajeel smirked, enjoying the groveling the salmon haired boy was doing right now. "You know Salamader's stupidity makes him speak without thinking- oof!"
"Shut up, Gajeel," Levy muttered, retracting her elbow from where she jabbed the Dragon Slayer in the stomach. Gajeel gave the short girl a half-hearted glare, cradling his arms around his midsection. "Like you're one to talk. You were just using what he said earlier to rile him up."
Natsu slumped into the seat next to Lucy. A dejected and abandoned look took over his features when he finally figured out that Lucy wasn't accepting any of his apologies. The blonde rolled her eyes, crossing her legs and watching the exchange between the Iron Dragon slayer and The Script mage. She let a small smile slip at their constant bickering. They were talking low but she caught some words such as 'Idiot' and 'Bunny Girl'.
"I've been wondering," Lucy spoke up, catching the attention of the three around her but her focus was on the Iron Dragon Slayer, "Why do you call me 'Bunny Girl'?"
Gajeel frowned at the question. She just assumed that he was thinking about it because the Dragon Slayer frowns more frequently than he smiles. Levy tilted her head and clasped her hands behind her back as she stared questioningly at the male. Natsu glanced at his blonde partner before turning his gaze, leaning against the table and stretching his arms against the length of the wood. He wanted to hear the answer to that as well.
"Not sure," Gajeel shrugged uncaringly, "I guess you remind me of her."
Levy frowned, narrowing her eyes, "Who is 'her'?"
"Ah, well," the Iron Dragon Slayer mumbled, scratching his cheek, "I don't know, but she was some kind of savior, apparently."
"So why'd you pair her up with Luce?" Natsu asked in a grumble, reverting quickly to his old self. "It's not like she saved anyone yet," he mumbled softly, but Lucy caught that and slapped the back of his head. "I said yet!"
"I can honestly tell you that I have but you didn't let him finish!" Lucy exclaimed, exasperated, "He never said that I reminded him of her because she was a savior, Idiot! He was just answering Levy-chan's question!"
"Tch." Nastu rolled his eyes, settling back against the table.
"Anyways," Lucy shot the Fire Dragon Slayer a glare before turning back to Gajeel, "Please continue. Why do I remind you of her?"
"Ugh," Gajeel groaned in annoyance, shooting a look at Levy who was nudging him to speak. "Fine, whatever," he grumbled, "You're blond, she was blond. She had a big chest, you have a big ch- Oof!"
Gajeel shot a glare at the three around him. Levy had, once again, elbowed him in the stomach, her eyes glaring at him. Lucy roughly extended her leg and dug her heel into his foot in irritation. Natsu had shot out his foot swiftly, catching the Iron Dragon Slayer's leg. In retribution, he kicked Natsu back and pinched both of the girls' cheeks until they swatted his hands away.
"Where the hell did you even meet this girl?" Lucy grumbled as she rubbed her cheek, tears pricking at the corners of her eye. Levy was doing the same but she was rubbing the opposite cheek, an extremely defiant look on her face. Natsu just glared daggers at the Dragon Slayer, refraining from attacking him because of the the sharp, unforgiving look Lucy gave him.
"It was years ago," Gajeel shrugged, smirking at all of them. Mostly at the other Dragon Slayer.
"When?" Levy asked, her eyes turning curious.
The Iron Dragon Slayer shrugged, "Back when I first joined Phantom Lord. Doesn't matter." He dared to look at the bluenette that stared up at him, expectantly waiting for more. He frowned, "That's it. I'm not sayin' anymore."
"You can't just stop there!" Levy protested, "You already opened up the can of beans, you might as well eat them!"
"I agree with Levy on this one," Natsu grinned, enjoying the hesitant look on the Iron Dragon Slayer's face. He grinned even wider when Gajeel shot a hateful look towards him. Lucy giggled behind her hand, not that she would admit it, but she also kind of enjoyed the Dragon's Slayer's expressions when it came to her blue-haired best friend.
"See!" Levy exclaimed, looking pointedly at Gajeel, "Even Natsu agrees! It's Natsu for Mavis's sake!"
"Hey!"
"Fine," Gajeel growled roughly, conceding. Levy cheered happily along with Lucy while Natsu smirked secretly. Gajeel shot a look at Levy, "Might as well as sit down, Shrimp. This might take a while."
The bluenette nodded quickly, stealing the seat on the other side of Lucy and snuggled up against her best friend. Frowning at the warmth taking up the space behind Lucy, Levy shot a look at Natsu before gripping his arm and pushed it back towards him. The Fire Dragon Slayer rolled his eyes but settled for crossing his arms in front of his chest.
"It's not much of a story that you're thinking," Gajeel started, "But whatever. It was when I just joined Phantom lord, Jose brought me along for one of his business trips. He needed a body guard or something. At the time, I was twelve or thirteen, who knows. Jose told me to stay in the shadows while he talked to this man, told me that if he needed my help he'd call me. He explained to me that the man we were meeting was extremely rich and if we got him on our side, we would become the richest and strongest guild in Fiore. Turns out, we ended up in Magnolia."
"We settled into the room that we was going to do the negotiations and it turns out that the man, James, or whatever his name was, was already there. He was a tall man, blond hair and a blond mustache, a bit buff. He was wearing an expensive looking suit, not sure the color though. All I could say about him was that he spent most of the conversation looking out the large window and down towards the street. When I got a really good look at his face, he seemed tired but he was staring fondly at something or someone on the streets. When I looked, all I could see was a few people. But what stood out was the lone, little blond child talking to a carriage driver before climbing in by herself."
"It wasn't until the carriage turned out of sight before the man turned to Jose, his face emotionless. They talked for a few minutes more, relief was on Jose's face when the man agreed to sign the agreement contract. He was halfway through signing the paper before there was an explosion and a lot of people yelling. I don't know why but the man seemed to panic then rushed towards the window. The carriage that I saw earlier was rampaging but instead of the carriage driver, I saw a blond woman in a bunny suit trying to untie the horses. When the horses were off, I could see the carriage slowing before the man pulled a communication lacrima out of his pocket and started to talk furiously to it. After that he rushed out of the doors. Jose was furious because he never finished signing the contract."
"Later that day, Jose vowed that he was going to stop at nothing to get, Jude or James or whatever the hell his name was to hand over the money that we needed to become the richest in Fiore. I don't know why it was so important though. I also learned that the woman in the bunny suit saved the little girl I saw earlier and that the little girl was actually the daughter of the man we saw. When Jose learned that, he started to make plans to kidnap the kid for ransom but since the little girl was so confined in their heavily guarded mansion, Jose waited for the right chance. They kept on calling the girl's savior, 'Bunny-chan' or something. So I guess that's where I got it."
The three in front of him were shocked in silence, sometimes the same thought crossed their minds but they were all quiet for different reasons. Of course the whole story seemed a little far-fetched but it made sense... kind of. However, it wasn't until Lucy snapped out of her thoughts and ignored the nagging feeling in her chest and eyed the Iron Dragon Slayer curiously.
"What?" Gajeel asked annoyed, "I told you the reason why I called you 'Bunny Girl'. You three even forced out that stupid backstory. What else do you want?"
"No, no," Lucy shook her head, still staring at him curiously before a smirk pulled at her lips, "That's actually the most I heard you ever talk."
"Yeah," Levy agreed in awe, before turning to the Celestial mage, "He was a little OOC, don't you think?"
"Definitely," Lucy laughed, nodding her head quickly.
"Wow, Iron-face," Natsu smirked, "I didn't know you had it in you."
Gajeel scoffed, "Course I do. I'm not an idiot like you."
"What?" Natsu raged, quickly standing up and glaring flames at the other Slayer. "That's it! You've been getting away for saying that because of Lucy, but get ready because I'm about to kick your ass, chump!"
"Bring it Salamander!"
Lucy was too indulged in her and Levy's conversation that she wasn't able to attempt to stop the flaming fist Natsu aimed at Gajeel. When she actually felt Natsu's presence disappear from her side, she whipped her head to see almost the whole guild in another tussle. She shrieked and Levy gasped when a stool flew between the two of them. The two girls sweat-dropped at the continuous destruction that this guild has seen. Levy turned away and tried to ignore them, pulling out an emergency book that she always kept on her when situations like this arose.
Lucy quickly stood up, knowing that her blue haired friend would be fine if she was left alone. Then she tried to find Erza to try and pacify the situation but quickly found out that the Re-equip mage had already joined the brawl. Surprisingly, it wasn't because someone dropped her cake. No, she joined in because it was a 'healthy relationship if friends can freely battle'.
Not wanting to deal with anymore of the guild, she decided to head home. Not even caring when Happy floated out right behind her and landed on her shoulder.
It wasn't until around the third or fourth time Lucy had kicked Natsu and Happy out of her apartment when what Gajeel said clicked into her mind.
Laying on her bed (alone thankfully), she frowned at the ceiling. Phantom Lord. Rich blonde man. Bunny-chan. Ransom. Runaway carriage. Lone blonde kid. Rich man's daughter. Savior.
The blonde's thoughts were everywhere. She finally tied off that Bunny-chan was definitely the woman that had saved her when she was younger. Meaning that the rich man that Jose was doing negotiations with was in fact, Jude Heartfilia and she was his daughter... That explained why Jose had kidnapped her to be held for ransom instead of giving her back like he was supposed to back when she first joined Fairy Tail. That also explains how her father knew Phantom Lord's master in the first place.
That lead her to think about when the Iron Dragon Slayer told them of how her father panicked when he saw her runaway carriage and how he looked out of the window at her the whole time since she escaped the family carriage.
So he saw me escape, Lucy thought, a lone tear slipping down her face, He also saw me when I first met Natsu, Grey and Erza. He was worried for me but he didn't stop me...
"Papa," the blonde whispered, more tears escaping her eyes.
Lucy reached up and pressed the heels of her palms against her eyes, trying to desperately stop the tears. A smile grew on her face but her tears continued to flow from sadness and happiness. Something deep in her told her that even though it seemed bad, he did think about her like how she hoped. And the fact that he hadn't stopped her inevitable fate made her feel like he was silently encouraging her dreams. So of course she cried. She cried like she hadn't in years, torn within the painstakingly beautiful melancholy before finally falling into a blissful rest.
It was barely midnight when she was gently jostled by actions that was purposely slow, in effort not to wake the blonde. However, she did wake up but kept her eyes closed, knowing immediately who it was. Instead of kicking the Dragon Slayer like how she always did, she curled into the warm, but tense body, feigning sleep. Slowly, the boy relaxed, releasing the tension in his body and settling himself more comfortably around the Celestial mage. Lucy accidentally let a small slip on her lips but Natsu had already slipped into unconsciousness, so he was unaware of it. Shaking her head in amused exasperation at her best friend, Lucy sighed before closing her eyes.
Of course, she promised herself to kick him out of her bed in the morning (then whip up a healthy helping of breakfast in apology) but enjoyed what unconscious comfort the boy provided. Unlike her father, Natsu had influenced and fulfilled her dreams verbally (And physically if she could count constantly being saved as one of her dreams).
Right before she fell back asleep, she silently thanked Grey, Erza and everyone else (in and out of Fairy Tail) that also helped in fulfilling her dreams. Then she served her separate murmurs of gratitude to Happy, her father and a certain persistent and stubborn Dragon Slayer.
And in reply, he smiled.
A/N: OMG! I'm done!
I really hoped that I ended that on a good note... my eyeballs are seriously hurting right now. I wrote all of this on a whim and one sitting so this is definitely not edited at all :)
And yes, I know that Gajeel doesn't call her Bunny Girl because of this nor does Jose really have a factor like that but I thought it was a fun spin on the plot. I also (I don't know why so don't quote me on this) believed that her father hadn't really hired Phantom Lord to kidnap Lucy. I always had it in my mind that Jude (Lucy's Dad) never went after her when she left was because he believed that wherever she was, she was happy and he silently cheered for that.
Forgive me if I never believed Lucy's dad to be purposely bad :)
I gotta give my eyeballs a rest now. See ya in the next one! -808Lionfire