A/N: Heyo! I'm finally back with another update! I kept going back and forth on how I wanted the story to go, and so far Happy is the hardest character I've written, which is why this chapter took so long…
Let me know what y'all think! Your past reviews were simply the sweetest and I love all of your theories and ideas!
Also question. I know that I change the pov just about every chapter and I want to know if that bothers any of you. It's just been an easy way for me to write this story, but if you guys really would prefer just one, to make it easier or whatever, let me know and I'll try my hardest!
Thanks again for the kind reviews and not-just-any-fangirl for being the best beta around!
Chapter Seven: Curiosity Killed the Cat?
That was too close. He was sure he had been found out that time, but holding back a sneeze was impossible for the small cat. Happy was certain it was for everyone else too. Even though Wendy always tried her hardest to hold them in, she never succeeded in keeping away the gusts of blistering wind that would escape every time she sneezed. Her scrunchy face never failed to make him and Natsu laugh. Before they were blown across the guild of course.
He looked over his shoulder, checking his left and right side for the third time before darting behind the closest tree and scampering up into the coverage of the branches.
Happy had been keeping a close eye on Natsu just like Master had asked him to for the past week and a half, and he could agree with his best friend that this place was definitely…weird.
There was a scent in the air that was constantly tickling his nose and he just couldn't get away from it no matter where he went. Although the scent of those workers was definitely not anything quite like he'd smelled before, it wasn't the inhabitants per say, or even anything that lived or grew there. Fiore was no stranger to any of the wildlife or vegetation that he'd seen on the Celestial Plains, but it was as Levy had pointed out before; many of these creatures were found half way across the country in completely different environments. Even some of the greenery. For so many to be in one place, somewhere that constantly stays the same…
It was downright unnatural.
And so was Natu's odd behaviour.
No one, absolutely no one, knew the pink-headed male better than his blue feline friend. He had noticed his quiet spirit, how he'd look up from his work about every five minutes to stare solemnly at the mansion, and Happy thought it was about time he figured out what was so interesting about a big, white house that had way too many windows to be practical. He checked his surroundings one last time, his eyes lingering on Natsu's retreating form before deeming it safe to sprout his wings, flapping them a few times to stretch out his white feathers before making a quick leap to the closest window on the second floor. Luckily for Happy, there were latches on the outside of the windows so that they could open inwards, like doors. But unfortunately for Happy, they were locked.
These people are definitely weird, Happy thought. Who has locks on their windows? And even then, why from the outside? Happy didn't think that was too smart. They couldn't unlock them like this. It seemed as if they were making it impossible for someone to get in.
…or get out.
But Happy was nothing if not determined. He was a cat after all. And cats are clever.
Extending a sharpened claw from his paw, Happy inserted it into the lock and twisted it around until he heard the satisfying clink! that signaled his success. He looked behind him one last time before slowly opening the window and hopping inside, scurrying over to hide behind the potted plant in the corner.
He slowly peeked his head out, only to gape in disbelief.
How many rooms does this house have?!
Just looking down the extensive hallway Happy could see he counted thirteen, no, fourteen doors. The white walls were bare, save the few ornamental pictures of scenery between every set of doors.
Happy found it odd that he didn't see any family photos. Not a single one.
Quietly tip-toeing across the black and white tiled floor to the corner, he looked down the hallway on his right, only to see another dozen. He couldn't look through all these! That's way too many for just one cat to handle. He didn't even know where to start! But something in this house had Natsu's attention, and Happy highly doubted it was food, so it was his responsibility as best friend to find out what.
He quickly bounded up to the nearest door and stretched on his hind legs to reach the handle, only for it to be locked. He dismissed it as unimportant, and went to the next one, only for it to be locked as well. These people sure must like their privacy, Happy thought, or they have a lot of secrets. If this was the case for all the doors, Happy didn't think he'd have enough time to unlock all of them without being found out. So using his supreme cat skills, he went to each doorway and sat. And he stared.
And he listened.
And listened. He listened and smelled for anything weird or out of the ordinary. He was having no luck until he reached his eighth door, at the very end of the hall. It had a different lock from all the others, which Happy thought was a curious thing. It was much bigger, and more fancy with swirls etched into the golden metal. He sat still, and really concentrated. He was just about to go to the next one when he heard a faint humming sound. Listening harder, Happy thought it sounded like someone was singing.
Curiosity peeked, he reached up to the handle, assuming it was locked, but was pleasantly surprised to find it wasn't. He opened the door just a few inches and squeezed through the tight space, dashing to run under the large pastel-pink bed he first saw in the back left corner. He peeped his head out from under the draping blankets to see a, not white room like he was expecting. On three of the walls, a mountain range was painted with different shades of lavender, tan, and black with each row appearing smaller the higher you looked up to give it a sense of distance. Smudges of white paint surrounded the peaks of some of the mountains giving it sort of a misty look. A dark brown bookshelf that stretched along the entire length of one wall as well as reaching the ceiling was filled to the edges with books of all different varieties. More books were stacked on both sides next to it in the form of a teetering tower that nearly reached the ceiling itself. The only other furniture in the room, besides the bookshelf and the bed, was a white and black marble writing desk, where a blonde girl was currently sitting, humming a soft tune and seemingly unaware of his presence. He cautiously started making his way to the tower of books, studying her as he went.
She was thoroughly concentrated on whatever she was writing, her hand scribbling so fast Happy thought he could see smoke rising from the tip of her pen. A small smile lit up her face, her lip bit between her teeth in thought. Her hair was tied to the side in a long loose braid, revealing her bare shoulder blades since she was wearing a tank top. Happy could see markings that shimmered silver in the light that were scattered along the top of shoulders and neck, others trailing down the backs of her upper arms and stopping at her elbows. He tilted his head in confusion, and silently asked why she had so many different tattoos that didn't make sense.
The blonde shuffled her arms a bit, causing her strap to fall from her shoulder, making Happy freeze momentarily. He'd seen this one somewhere before, but he couldn't quite remember where. It wasn't big, it didn't have as many lines as some of her other ones did, but Happy could swear he'd seen it, but on someone's arm?
…Natsu's arm!
He jolted in realization, causing him to bump into the leaning tower of books he hadn't realized he had gotten so close to. The tower swayed side to side, Happy staying stock still and watching it nervously. He put his paws up against it to help keep it steady until it final stood straight once again. Happy sighed in relief and leaned against the tower.
Which was of course the worst thing he could have done.
The books came crashing down on the poor blue cat before he had enough time to dash away, shocking the blonde from her trance and had her squealing in surprise as she fell out of her chair.
Happy pushed his way out of the pile of old smelly paper and locked eyes with the blonde that was frozen in her place on her floor.
"A cat?" She so eloquently asked. " A blue cat?"
"Aye! I'm Happy!" The, talking, blue cat replied. "Why do you have the same mark on your shoulder as the one on Natsu's arm?"
The blonde opened and closed her mouth a few times before finally asking, "You know Natsu?"
"Aye!" The, Happy, cheerfully squeaked, "he's my best friend! Natsu was given to me while I was still in my egg and we've been together ever since!"
The girl blinked at him a few times, still processing what he said. "Wait, Natsu…was given to you? What do you mean?"
"That's not important right now," Happy said dismissively with a flick of his paw, "you still haven't answered my question."
"I don't know what you're talking about, what do you mean he has the same mark as me?"
"That little one that's on your shoulder, Natsu has the same on his arm, right here." Happy pointed to the spot on his left arm where the mark would be on Natsu's. The girl's eyebrow's scrunched in confusion, and she opened her mouth to question him again, but her eyes grew wide and she covered her mouth with both hands as she gasped.
"Oh my lanta, I branded him," she breathed in shock. Her hands began to tremble and she blinked away the tears that she could feel in her eyes. "Is he okay? Is his arm alright? Can he move it?" She was frantic as she shot up from the ground and began to quickly pace back and forth, all the while wringing her hands nervously and muttering under her breath. Happy watched her for a moment from his spot, still, buried underneath the books until he called out, "Hey, weirdo, could you help me out? I'm kinda stuck." His call snapped the blonde from her mini freak out and she whipped her head to the side to look at him, but she wasn't really looking at him. It was as if she was staring right through him.
Happy meowed loud enough to startle to her and she muttered an apology as she strode over to rescue him from his confinement. Once he was freed, the girl lifted him up in the air to get a good look at him.
"Huh, you're pretty cute for a trouble making cat," she mused with a teasing grin.
"At least my face doesn't have scribbles on it like a weirdo," Happy retorted smugly.
"They're not scribbles," she said indignantly, "they're constellations. And my name is Lucy."
"Whatever you say, Lushi," he sing-songed as he sprouted his wings and flew over to her bed to snuggle in her pillows. "You have a nice smell," he sighed in contentment, "it's better than the others here."
"What do you mean?" she asked as she walked over to lay down next him.
"I have the ability to detect people's aura," Happy told her proudly, "which is different for every person. No two people have the same. There might be similarities, like between parents and their kids, but there's always something that tells each person apart." Lucy sat up and listened to the cat with rapt attention. Happy noticed this, and felt pride swirl in his chest. No one usually listens to him like this in the guild. It was nice to be taken seriously for a change.
"What is a person's aura? Is it like their soul?" Lucy asked excitedly.
Happy shook his head. "Not exactly," he said, "soul searching is a lot trickier. If I could do that, I'd know exactly how you feel, I'd be able to know what you're thinking, or know what you'd do or say before you do it. I'd know your darkest intentions, your most secret desires." Happy was inwardly cackling at the look on Lucy's face. She was eating up every word he was saying, which was all true, but the girl looked like she'd never heard of any type of sensory magic.
"Wow," she breathed in awe, a smile lighting up her face. Happy narrowed his eyes on her cheeks, it may have just been a trick of the light, but he could have sworn her freckles were twinkling just then. "That's incredible! What else can you do?"
Happy puffed up his chest and lifted his arms to, what Lucy assumed he was trying to do, flex. "I'm really strong! So far I can lift up to thirty-five times my weight! I also can fly about seventy-five miles per hour! I could do more if I trained, but we've all been taking a break the past couple of months after the last battle we had."
The cat looked over at the girl to see her looking at him wide-eyed and her lower jaw dropped in surprise. She sputtered for a few seconds before finally spitting out, "What the butt?! How can your body even bare any of that? That's like, physically impossible! And a battle? Like, a dance battle? A rap battle? What do you mean?"
Happy burst into giggles as Lucy began to ramble on and on about how he literally should not be able to do any of the above said things because she'd never seen something like him before and none of her books mention anything about colorful talking cats with magic abilities. She must be the reason why Natsu looks so puzzled all the time, she's a total weirdo. But Happy decided right then that he liked Lushi. Even though she talked a lot, she had a nice smell, like vanilla and lavender with a hint of burnt rose. Her aura was nice too, it was all light and bubbly, with just a trace of something that Happy couldn't pin point, but it didn't feel pleasant. He'd look at that another time.
The blue cat snorted, and padded over onto the blonde's lap, gaining her attention. "You're weird Lushi, but I like you," he purred as he continuously rubbed his head into her belly, enjoying her nice scent. There was always so many all at once in the guild since their was so many people, but here, it was just Lucy.
The blonde was stunned into silence, slightly miffed but oddly touched by the cats words. She gently laid her hand on top of his head and began to scratch behind his ears, earning an even louder purr from the blue feline. She sighed, but couldn't help the small grin on her face. He was an odd cat, and his very existence shook something within her. How much was out there that she did not know? She could be missing out on so many wonderful things, but she was stuck here, forever trapped in a beautiful cage, the bars made out of her own making.
Something she'd never be able to break free from on her own.
"How much longer?"
"As long as it takes," a deep voice replied. Gruff, and sounding just as exasperated as the woman who asked the question.
"You've been saying that for the past four hundred years," the woman sighed, crossing her arms underneath her large bust.
"That's because it hasn't been the right time, it still isn't the right time," he replied calmly. "But I can feel it, the change in the winds. It's nearly time. I just hope that they're ready. That she's ready."