2: Unexpected Surprise
(Lucy's POV)
I wanted to die right then and there. I leaned over and put my hands on my knees to support myself as I breathed in and out, trying to regain consciousness.
I had just arrived right in time to pay my rent after running for what seemed to be like a week, but it was probably only a few minutes.
I may look, well amazing, but that doesn't "necessarily" mean I'm exactly fit. Well, who cares? I sure don't, and I made it in time for my rent, so I'm actually quite happy right now. I looked around and opened my door to find myself face-to-face with my landlady. She looked over me and noticed me panting in short breaths. She didn't seem to really care as she growled,
"Rent?" I nodded and pulled out the money in my small purse and handed it to her. She counted it, as I supported myself against the wall trying not to die. When she finished counting, she opened the door for me to come in and I rushed inside.
...
After getting settled in upstairs and taking a shower, I sat down at my desk and stared at my manuscript.
What to write, what to write…hmmm. Maybe I could try this and-
"Hey Lucy!"
"AHHH!" I screamed in shock. I spun around and caught a handful of pink hair in my hand and said,
"NATSU?! Ughh…should have figured, I suppose, but why did you have to scare me half to death?!"
"Oww…Lucy. That hurts." Natsu whined as a flying, blue cat followed in after him through the window. I looked at the window and back at Natsu and said,
"Why can't you use the door like a normal person, Natsu?" He just shrugged and responded with,
"I don't know. Your landlady scares me and, I don't know…I guess it's all of those stairs that I would have to walk on to get up here, and that's just so complicated." He said while sighing as he took over my chair. I just sighed in response and said,
"Whatever, just don't eat too much," My words trailed off as Happy brought in almost all of my food and set it down on Natsu's lap, "and of course…never mind me. I'm just the girl who puts up with you and feed you and-" Natsu cut me off.
"Hey Luce? Want to go on a mission tomorrow?"
"Ughh…why?" I said a little too rudely. He looked startled and mumbled,
"Idon'tknowIjustthoughtitwouldbeagoodidea…we are partners."
I immediately regretted saying what I did and gave him my best sweet smile and agreed with his idea. He perked up immediately and Happy did too, because apparently he had also gone all depression-mode on me when I said my earlier rude words to Natsu.
Suddenly, Natsu stood up and said,
"Oh yeah…I have to leave! See you tomorrow! Meet at the guild, okay?" Before I could respond he jumped out of the window and was running away towards an unknown location. Hmm…he's so weird. I giggled and lied down on my bed with a book in my hand. I opened it up, but soon I was lost in the world of dreams.
(Sting's POV)
"Wake up." A voice said.
"Wake up, would you?" I groaned and smashed the pillow over my ears as the voice continued on. It was Lector.
"Please Sting-kun, wake up! Wake up before Minerva walks in! Wake UP!" He sounded desperate, but I did not want to get up. I was so tired from last night.
"Sting-kun! Please? Minerva's really almost here, and you need to be awake this time! Don't you remember what happened last time?" He asked me adding an ominous tone to his last words. I immediately sprung up out of bed and stood up assessing the situation for what it was. I glanced down at Lector who had fallen off the bed due to my sudden jump out of bed.
"Wait…Lector. Did you just say that Minerva's almost here?" I asked. Lector nodded frantically, and pointed at the door.
"SHIT!" I practically screamed to the world. I scanned my room for anything that shouldn't be seen by her, and tried to clean up as much as possible in the short time that I had. I glanced at Lector again and asked,
"Is this an inspection or just Minerva being a bitch?" Lector opened his mouth to reply, but suddenly he looked terrified. Oh no…I turned around and found myself face-to-face with none other than the terrifying bitch herself. I am so dead…
"It's an inspection, Sting." She told me coldly. I flinched and tried to look anywhere but her. How come it's only Minerva that terrifies the shit out of me? Not even the Master scares me this much, but with Minerva I feel completely helpless, and especially after that.
I agree that Fairy Tail is a completely useless guild, but when Minerva tortured that blonde chick from their guild, I started to laugh, but come on…what else was I supposed to do? It's not as if I'm a nice guy. I don't even try that hard to be nice. Being nice doesn't make you strong. Fighting battles just for your friends like Natsu said is not what I believe in. I mean sure, I know that if you leave behind your comrades in a battle, then you're no higher than scum on my watch, but-
"Sting! Would you listen to what I am saying, you stupid brat?" Minerva said sharply. I focused my attention back onto her and asked,
"What?" I saw Lector in the corner of my eye back away after I said that. Wait…what? I focused back on…oh…Minerva…forgot she was here, and what? I knew she was here, but…now I'm confused.
Minerva looked pissed. I looked her over to see the same frightening, scary-as-hell, freaky pretty, and strong women standing there. I smirked, for reasons unknown to me. I have no idea what I'm actually doing here…
"Sting! Your room. Clean it up, now. Oh, and if I hear one more "bitch" remark about me, you'll be cleaning all of the rooms in this place. Got it, Sting?" She left then, leaving me there to deal with the confusion that was still trying to process in my mind correctly. Lector looked at the door and back up at me finally saying,
"I hate her Sting-kun, but I also respect her, but of course…not like how I respect you! You are definitely the strongest in this guild, but I'm weak so I'm afraid of people like her, Sting-kun…but…you'll always be there for me, right Sting-kun?"
I noticed Lector look as if he was going to cry. I picked him up and said,
"Right." I gave him a real smile and he smiled back. I looked around my room and said, "Now let's clean this stupid place." He agreed and we got to work.
(Lucy's POV)
I was really grumpy. I'm not exactly sure why, but it could have to do with the fact that I dreamed about that guy, oh yeah…Sting, last night, which was not romantic, but very annoying since the entire time he was just screaming my name and laughing like he did that day a couple days ago.
I rubbed my head to try and ease this now present headache that was screaming and pounding in my head. I looked out my window and saw that it was cloudy; like that day…hmmm…maybe it'll rain again. I smiled to myself and immediately turned red. Wait! Why am I smiling about that fact? I hate the rain! Oh whatever…
I got up and after getting dressed and ready, I started towards Fairy Tail.
As I was walking and humming happily to myself, because I was in a much better mood all of a sudden, I started to really think. I was thinking about everything. My books, my dad, and as I was thinking I didn't notice myself start to think about Sting.
Sure, he was an annoying, arrogant bastard who couldn't give me a straight answer, but he had this feel about him that I did somewhat like, which is strange. I didn't even see him, but I assume he was at least somewhat good-looking, or I could hope so, because…wait! No! Why am I even thinking about this?! I barely know the guy and he was irritating! Yes, that's it and that's all. I mean, it's not like I'll meet him again anytime soon, or at least I hope not. I shrugged and continued on.
...
When I finally arrived at my favorite guild in the whole world, Fairy Tail, I rushed inside fully pumped and ready for this mission that I had…
Sadly….
Let.
Natsu.
Pick.
I looked over the request once again and had to do three more double takes. Natsu was watching me with wide eyes as Happy was flying above him snickering to himself, not so quietly.
"You aren't serious, right?" I asked, afraid of the answer as I glanced down at the request again. I just couldn't…there's no way…
"It's really okay Lucy. You don't have to do it. We can just choose something else, if you really don't want to. I just thought…that maybe you'd want it because of the reward." Natsu said quickly. I looked back down at the request and re-read the reward. Natsu was right. It really was a big reward. Almost a year's worth of rent, which I really needed, but the request was just so…outrageous and most of all, indecent! How could anyone expect this of anyone?!
However, if I did this then more than a few girls would be saved from this heinous act. I looked back up at Natsu and said,
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Natsu didn't budge as Happy yelled,
"Aye, Lucy!"
Instead Natsu just looked at me and narrowed his eyes. What was up with him being so observant recently? I chuckled nervously as he asked,
"Are you sure Luce? We really don't have to, and-"
"I'm sure. Now, let's just go, before I change my mind." I said quickly cutting him off.
He nodded and headed after me as I bounded out of the guild and on towards our next mission.
...
We arrived at the house a little earlier than expected, especially considering the fact that I thought it would have taken forever for Natsu to regain his sanity as we were exiting the train, but it seemed to me as if he got better just a little quicker. It was very strange.
I knocked on the door and almost instantly the door was opened to reveal a very tender looking women who looked to be in her early thirties. When she saw us, she gave us a huge smile and exclaimed,
"Oh! You must be from Fairy Tail! Well come in, come in!" She ushered us in and led us to a small and cozy looking living room for us to sit down in. Natsu glanced at me as I sat down on this very plump looking sofa-seat. The lady rushed out of the room leaving us there alone for a while, but soon enough she came back in holding a silver tray.
"Here you are dearie." She said while handing me a small pastry that was bright yellow. It looked really good as I picked one out and took a small bite. I almost gagged. It was completely awful, even if it did look really good. Natsu took a bite out of his and did not have enough courtesy to not gag so loudly, which he did. The lady looked at Natsu with worried eyes and asked,
"Are you alright dearie?" Natsu just tried to nod as he tried to swallow the pastry. The lady seemed to be really worried about him, so in order to divert the attention from Natsu, I asked,
"So…why exactly was this your request?" The lady looked over at me and said,
"Oh well…you see…my sister has been forced into it and now she lives like that, and well I just couldn't bear it, so I contacted her." I nodded to show I was listening and she continued by saying, "My sister told me, oh and her name's Clara, anyways she told me that the man who ran the organization was actually a wizard who lures people in to try and you know…get the satisfaction. Oh and in order for the girls to actually do what he says, he threatens their families, he threatened me in my sister's case apparently, so they would do what they're told. It's been going on for years apparently, so I finally sent in a request to a guild, Fairy Tail, to get rid of the man and let my sister come back to me." She stopped talking and looked for our reactions. Natsu looked pissed, and I assume I looked concerned. I looked back down at the request and back at the lady (who still has not told us her name), and finally said breaking the silence,
"Alright. I'll do it, oh," I looked at Natsu quickly and corrected, "I mean we'll do it."
Natsu just nodded and Happy looked as if he were going to cry. I stood up and said my farewells to the lady and assured her we would get the job done. The entire time, Natsu was silent, which I'm not sure should be taken for a bad thing or a good thing.
I started down the street and towards a store that looked right. Natsu glanced up at it and then back at me narrowing his eyes.
"Why're we here?" I gave him a sharp glare and said,
"Well, what do you think one-night stand prostitutes wear?"
(Sting's POV- A few days later)
I already hate this job. I think Rogue hates this job too, and that was because-
"Ughhh…Iwannagetoffthisdamnthingalready!" I groaned. The train was moving way too fast in my opinion, but no one seemed to care about how I felt, or Rogue. Lector just shot me a worried glance and Fro said,
"Fro thinks so too…Fro's worried about Rogue-kun." I saw her look at Rogue who was kneeling over on the seat trying not to hurl. I groaned and was praying for the train to stop anytime now…anytime now…anytime…
...
The train finally came to an abrupt stop with a lurch forward. I was instantly relieved and literally jumped out of the window to escape from that purgatory. Rogue followed soon after rubbing his head and muttering,
"Finally, we're off." I nodded agreeing with him and stood there blinking in the light.
When we regained ourselves, we started to walk around looking for the place.
We arrived at a small café, and entered it looking for the man we were supposed to meet here. He was going to be wearing a green jacket and oh…found him. He was sitting by the windows sipping on a coffee. He perked up when he noticed us walk in and ushered us over to him.
Rogue, Fro, Lector, and I all sat across from him and I asked,
"Where's the thing you want us to deliver?" He looked behind him obviously paranoid. I just sighed and put my hand out expecting to receive. He looked at me and then reached into his jacket to pull out a small brown package and hand it to me. I wrapped my fingers around it and asked in a bored tone,
"So, you want us to take this just across town and give it to a young lady who'll be waiting at the fountain at exactly four o'clock, right?" He nodded frantically and I asked, "Why can't you just do this yourself again?" Rogue gave me a sharp look and the man told me, "No, no, no, no, no…not safe. Too dangerous. People watch." I wanted to burst out laughing at how scared the man was, but decided with a sigh. I stood up and said,
"Come on guys. Let's just do this already."
We walked out and Rogue finally said,
"Sting, it's only twelve. What are you going to do for four hours?" I looked at him and asked, "What do you mean, what am I going to do for four hours? What about you?" He shook his head and said, "I'm going to the library. I see no point on wasting energy walking around." He looked down at Fro and said, "Let's go Fro."
Then...
He left me in a place…
That I have never been to before…
To go…
To a library!
I just stared at them as they walked away from me and then looked down at Lector,
"Let's go Lector. Let's just walk around or something. Maybe we can get something to eat." I muttered.
"Good idea Sting-kun!" Lector told me.
...
Okay. I was officially bored. I have literally walked around this town at least five times in only thirty minutes, and I've found absolutely nothing to do.
"Arghh…let's do something Lector." I said as we were walking alongside the street.
"Like what?" He asked.
"I dunno, maybe we can go start a fight or something." I said, shrugging.
"I'm not sure that's the best idea Sting-kun…" Lector told me.
"And why not? Think I'm going to lose?" I asked him.
"No! No! You know I think you're the strongest person alive! I just don't think anyone in this town is even worth your time to fight. That's all." He said.
"I don't care! I'm bored and-" Someone ran into me.
"Oh my goodness! I am so sorry! I didn't see you there!" A pale girl about my age with short brown hair told me while giggling.
"Well obviously." I muttered, annoyed.
"Hehe…well I can make it up to you. Would you like that?" She told me while twirling her hair in her fingers. She annoyed me, but I'll play along. I leaned in right in front of her face and asked seductively,
"How so little missy?"
She giggled wildly and said,
"Well…come with me." She grabbed my arm and started to pull on it, but I pulled back and exclaimed, "Hey! Stupid brat let go of me, would ya?!" She just giggled and looked back at me and whispered,
"Just come on. I need to make it up to you…"
My whole body felt fuzzy and tingly as I nodded slowly and let her pull me along. I heard Lector calling after me, but I wasn't making out what he was saying. I could only focus on this girl and her words…
(Lucy's POV)
"We have a customer!" Marise yelled while opening the doors to reveal none other than a very dazed looking blonde haired guy. I couldn't get a good look at him because he was instantly surrounded by all of the girls here. I sighed sadly as I looked around me. I hated this place as soon as I had stepped into it a few days ago.
I remember how I walked in as confidently as I could and actually said that I wanted to become a hooker. They looked at me and agreed finally branding me as a whore. It was so embarrassing, but thankfully no one I couldn't handle has requested me, and I always made them think that they fell asleep before doing anything, instead of reality which was actually me knocking them out. It was so easy, but every time I was requested I just felt so…dirty. I felt tainted even though I haven't actually done anything. It was just so wrong. I put my hand to my forehead and walked out to greet the customer.
As I pushed myself through the crowd of girls, I became face-to-face with none other than Sting Eucliffe from Sabertooth. So many thoughts were spinning in my head as he just stood there looking completely dazed. I didn't know how to react. This was the guy who was completely…evil! Well, actually I've never really even met him, but Natsu really hates him, so that must be some indication of his personality.
I looked him over and didn't really notice any major changes from The Grand Magic Games…it has only been a month, after all.
What was I supposed to do? I did not want him to request me, because I know that I cannot "handle" him so easily. He almost defeated Natsu, for Christ's sake. He was…strong, so if he does request me…I'm doomed. I'll become tainted and ruined before I'm even married! I wanted to cry!
Calm down, Lucy. There are much more attractive and sexy girls in here than you...I looked around. Oh, who am I kidding? Of course I'm one of the prettiest in here, and usually that's a good thing, but not now it isn't…not now… I zoned back in.
"So you sure are cute now aren't you Mister?" Lucille said in a hushed tone.
"I agree. Now how about taking your pick and have, well a great night with them? We have plenty of girls who are free tonight." The manager, Carissa told him. He looked around as if he was confused and spotted me.
"You…what…" He said, but Carissa intervened and said,
"You want Lucy?" He gave no reply, which she took for a yes as she looked over at me and said, "You heard him Lucy dear. You're requested. So make sure he has a good night, understand?"
I was frozen from shock and fear. Oh no…what just happened? My body moved forward to take Sting towards one of the back rooms and led him. I don't even know what I'm doing right now. Why did I agree to this? I could've said no…why didn't I just say no…? I started to tear up as I opened the door to the room and led him in. Then, I turned around to face a so-called enemy.
(Sting's POV)
The girl was crying. Why was she crying? She was so obviously trying to hide her tears, but come on…they were practically streaming down her face. So finally I said,
"So…umm…do you want to sit down or something?" She just looked at me and started to cry harder. Geez, all I did was ask her something…oh that reminded me.
"So…aren't you that girl from Fairy Tail?" I asked kind of awkwardly. She was just standing there crying after all. Finally she sniffed and said,
"Oh, is that your reason for doing this? To make fun of me? To try and shame me and my guild? Just how evil are you?" I was shocked. Why did she remind me of someone…no not someone…that girl…from the forest…what? Wait, why was she blaming me for this?
"Actually," I started after an abrupt silence, "I don't even know why I'm here. Some girl knocked into me and forced me to come here, but I don't remember why I let her…wait…just where exactly am I?" I said, confused, as this realization dawned on me. I looked around at my surroundings and saw nothing familiar. The girl looked completely surprised for a second and then she looked completely understanding as what looked like an epiphany dawned on her.
"Wait a second…oh…okay…that makes some sense, I guess…" She said muttering to herself, I assume, because I had no idea what she was talking about.
"So, where am I?" I finally asked again. She looked up at me startled, as if she had forgotten that I was even there. Then, she started to laugh, and I mean seriously laugh. She looked completely relieved as she looked me over and started to crack up once more. Finally, between her chortles of crazy, she gasped,
"Oh…I'm sorry…it's just that, I was so worried…and it was all for nothing!" She continued to laugh, as I stood there completely stupefied.
So there I was, watching this strange Fairy laugh her ass off as if I were the funniest thing in the world, and I had to admit…it was really funny to watch her fall down on her knees (still laughing) and pound her fists on the ground while clutching her stomach. She was really laughing all right… it was kind of weird. So after a while, I started to laugh too, which led to her snapping her head up in shock and stop laughing. I stopped laughing too.
Then, she stood up and practically glared at me for existing, it seemed like. I just stared back at her, when she finally said,
"So, you're Sting right? From Sabertooth?" She said the word bitterly. I smirked and said, "What's it to you Fairy? The Grand Magic Games are over, so no need to be so hasty. In fact…you're lucky that I'm not killing you right now." That caught her attention. She looked startled and whisper-asked,
"What did you just say?"
"I said, the Grand Magic Games are over and-" She cut me off annoyed and said,
"No, no, no. After that."
I just looked at her and smiled and told her,
"I was going to continue to say that I said that you young miss should be lucky that I'm killing you right now for insulting me." Her eyes widened and I could almost see thoughts running through her eyes as she continued to study me. Finally she spoke up and asked,
"What about…naps?" Her words were hesitant, almost hopeful. My eyes widened too and my smirk grew more pronounced. There was no way, but I still said,
"Lucy?"
*Oooh…they meet face-to-face and now actually somewhat know each other! What's going to happen…? LOL. Well, I need to thank you all for the very sweet reviews you guys left me and thank you for following and fave-ing this story! I'm also very sorry about the lateness of this chapter…I was planning on writing it earlier on in the weekend, but I remembered…my mom was getting married in the middle of nowhere! So, I have literally just come back to electricity and now…I am relishing in it. I have to thank you again, because awww I just love you! So keep reading to see what happens next! :D