The night was a riot of light and sound. The storm had reached a new level of viciousness. Stepping out onto the balcony was like stepping into a different world. The wind alone was enough to cleave Lucy in two. So far the rain was held back by the balcony's awning, but the material blew threateningly in the wind. All it would take was a slight change in wind direction and they'd be soaked. Gray stood just feet from her, the expression on his face absolutely torn. His fingers kept clenching and unclenching, his eyes meeting hers then darting away.
Afraid they'd just stay like that forever, Lucy asked, "When did you get into town?" That seemed like a nice, benign opener.
"Juvia and I are together now," Gray blurted.
Lucy chewed her bottom lip hard enough to hurt. So much for easing into the topic.
"Things are good for us." He looked ready to snap.
"...Good," Lucy said.
"So let's just..." He floundered, looking for a term to call whateverthefuck it was that happened between them.
"Act like it didn't happen?" she suggested when he trailed off.
Gray nodded, gladly grasping onto her vagueness. His knuckles were white from clenching his beer bottle so hard. Lucy thought that would be it, but he went on. "Lucy... It was a shitty thing."
Somehow she'd crossed her arms over her chest, feeling vulnerable all over again. Stupid, raw. She didn't complain about him saying, 'I wouldn't leave you,' and then ditching in the middle of the night, though. She didn't talk about how she woke the next morning with the hugest hangover she'd ever had, feeling dirty and ashamed, used when she realized that he'd left, and not just her apartment, but Magnolia.
You used each other, she reminded herself. Aloud, she conceded, "We both messed up." And Juvia…
That night came back and hit Lucy hard.
'Did you tell her?'
'Not yet.'
'She'll be hurt, but…'
'But at least she'll know, right?'
'Yeah.'
He'd left with her anyway because he loved her, even if he was hurting. You should have known. Lucy swallowed the ball in her throat, wondering what it would be like to love someone that much.
"Juvia's asleep," Gray said.
Lucy filled in the blanks for him. "You want to act like this never happened, too?"
He flinched, obviously abashed. "Yeah."
Lucy's ego bruised more. It's not like you loved each other. No, but there was something to be said about a man totally wanting to disassociate with you after such a thing. She tugged up her pride from its place in the mud. "I don't want to hurt Juvia. Tomorrow morning, we'll meet each other out in the hall."
Gray nodded. "We'll be surprised to see each other."
"We'll pretend like all of this never happened."
It was just another thing to say 'It's fine' to. This one at least felt mostly real. Soon you'll figure out how to act towards each other. Soon you won't feel this knot of guilt. Soon you'll look at Juvia and not want to cry.
The future was heavy with promise. It had a lot to live up to.
Gray said, "Thanks, Lucy. And, it was good to see you again." The last was tacked on, nearly meaningless. He left her there surrounded by the storm. The wind shifted direction so the rain started to come into the balcony. Lucy's skin soaked immediately. The motel's balcony door closed.
Lucy stayed stationary for what felt like a long time. Her dress was saturated, her hair. She started shivering at some point. The air lightened with the appearance of a gate. Lucy took in a breath and prepared for the spirit she knew was coming for her.
Loke stepped into the storm. His glasses were gone. Tonight he carried no umbrella but held out his jacket. Lucy didn't take it so he wrapped it around her shoulders.
"That went better than expected, huh?"
Lucy's eyes were dry when she looked at him. "Yeah, I guess."
"Why are you still standing out here?"
She didn't know how to explain the chaos that was her head. "I just wanted some time to think, Loke."
"You want someone to bounce your thoughts off of?"
Lucy huffed. "I'm sure you know them all already." They were closer now than ever, and it seemed the more she obsessed about something, the more susceptible her spirits were to her internal ramblings.
"It's not as cleansing as speaking them aloud."
He had her there. Putting word to it was hard, though. "I don't like lying. Yet, I like hurting my friends even less." She met Loke's eye. "Is lying about it the right thing to do?" Was it lying if she just didn't say anything?
Loke twisted his mouth to the right. "Dunno how I became your moral compass."
"Me neither," Lucy told him. "But you're all I have."
He actually looked hurt. He recovered. Loke always did. "I already told you what I thought should happen."
"You think I should tell Natsu." Which meant, inevitably, telling Juvia.
"Right."
"Even though we're not together?"
The look he gave her was downright plaintive. "If he hadn't left, where would you be now, Lucy? Still just friends?"
Lucy clenched her fingers tight in Loke's jacket. "Close, Gate of the Lion." Her voice was barely a whisper, but the magic worked anyway. He disappeared from view.
There was still no light when Gray re-entered his room slightly damp, wholly anxious. He slowed, searching the small dumpy place for Juvia's signature blue hair. He found her on the bed in her most favorite black nighty. Actually, it was his favorite black nighty that she was kind enough to wear once in awhile. She claimed that the infrequency was because she thought he'd get too used to seeing her in it and it'd no longer be special. He wasn't sure if it was true or not, but it definitely made him appreciate her in it every single time.
This time when he looked at her, his heart did the same slow somersault it always did, but it wasn't because her breasts were nearly spilling out of the inky material. Or because so much of her legs were on display. It was because she fingered the silver keys he'd left on the dresser before he went for his ill-planned walk. His mouth went desert-dry.
Juvia lifted her eyes. She looked first at the mostly drunk bottle of beer in his hand. It was one of five and still his head was too loud. She looked next into his face, her expression so complicated there was no way he was able to read it all before her face cleared again.
"Gray-sama. You came back."
Gray was catapulted in time to a motel room very similar to this. His throat closed. "Of course I did, Juvia." Absolutely. "I just went for a walk."
She stood and came to him, keys in hand. Her free hand landed flat on his chest while the other went searching for his. Lucy's key's were icy cold against Gray's skin. Juvia curled his fingers around them when he made no move to do so himself.
"They should go back into your wallet."
Gray heard himself ask, "How do you know?"
"I see you, Gray-sama. You take them out and look them over mostly after we make love."
Gray searched for malice behind her clear dark eyes. There was none. He wanted to ask if she knew about Lucy. His mouth wouldn't form the question.
Juvia said, "Put them back where they belong."
"Thank you." He took them on his own volition, though he'd never wanted to drop an object more in his life. Juvia stepped away from him so he could go through the motions, pulling his wallet out of his pocket, flipping to the last leather leaf and depositing the keys deep within the fold. Though they were out of sight they still felt heavy, his chest still tight, his father's magic unsettled. It's Lucy. He admonished the thought. It's Magnolia. He admonished that, too. It was only a city. A town, really, especially now that it was a husk of itself. It's demons. It had to be. There was no other reason for the coldness he felt deep in his bones and the growing headache behind his eyes. It'd been there since they stepped into town and had only gotten worse as the night went on. Maybe it's all the beer.
Maybe.
"Gray-sama?" Juvia had hold of the straps of her nighty. Gray took his eyes away from the wallet to really focus on her. The straps inched down, sliding over her pearlescent skin. "Gray-sama, will you make love to Juvia?"
There was only a moment's hesitation, then he dropped the wallet and his beer to the floor. He didn't pay attention to the inch of warm fluid left in the bottom as it slopped out of the neck and wetted the carpet. Juvia didn't scold him, either, too in love with the way he looked at her, the intense way his eyes took her in, like he was breaking her down and seeing more than she wanted to show.
He came to her and helped her remove his most favorite article of clothing, more than willing to take the distraction she offered. His migraine even eased a little.
Natsu was pulling a loose thread on the corner of his blanket when the door opened again and Lucy stepped through. Even in the darkness he could see she was soaked and shivering for the second night in a row. She wore someone else's jacket. Not someone else's, he realized, but Loke's. The dragon slayer stood, on high alert.
"What happened?"
"Hm? Nothing," Lucy said so dully that Natsu relaxed just a fraction.
"Why are you soaked?"
She looked down, as if realizing for the first time she was saturated. "There's a balcony and it's raining. That's all."
"You went out in the storm?"
Lucy's throat bobbed. "I just wanted some fresh air."
He let it go to ask another senseless question in a much quieter voice, trying to be respectful of a sleeping Happy. "Is that Loke's coat?" He knew perfectly well that it was, the smell of the celestial realm was all over it.
"Yeah." Lucy shrugged it off and draped it on one of the kitchen chairs. Her skin was paler than normal and raised in goosebumps.
Natsu didn't let himself think about how she let Loke keep her company but not him. That was a sure way to feed a new jealous monster that he wasn't particularly fond of. "You should have brought him in, I haven't seen him in awhile." There was that brief moment where the spirit materialized earlier, but he'd been far away.
"Next time, maybe." Lucy clutched her arms around her middle and started looking for something to dry off with. On the beat-up table was a square of green towel. Natsu saw what she was eyeing and handed it to her. When she met his eyes he saw a whole library of emotions happening behind her contemplative expression. He expected a volley of words, yet she only said, "Thanks."
"You're welcome." Natsu watched her run the towel through her hair. The locks were dreaded now, braided up by the wind. She didn't brush her fingers through them like he expected her to, she left them exactly the way they were, or perhaps made them worse when she scrubbed the towel roughly through the ends, gathering up the excess water. When her hair was simply damp, she went to her bed and took up his shirt. Natsu had a nervous hot flash where he thought she'd strip off her dress there and change—she was acting so strangely all the time now—but she took it into the washroom. The door closed. He couldn't tell if he was relieved or disappointed. Maybe the two were synonymous in that moment.
Long minutes passed. Natsu got tired of waiting for her and went to the bed, stretching out on the weary mattress. The bedsprings squealed. Happy, curled up at the foot, griped and turned further into the wall. Natsu locked his hands behind his head and stared at the water stained ceiling.
The washroom opened again and Lucy came out, hair still a knotty golden cloud. She had little trouble finding him, her eyes long ago adjusted to the power outage. She crossed the room, stepping over a pile of damp clothes Natsu dropped. She moved like a wraith girl, confident, like her feet didn't even touch the ground. Natsu expected her to stop at the loveseat. She didn't, not until her bare knees kissed the mattress. Natsu tilted his face up to look at her. It was difficult to make her out in the dark, but he thought her mouth was set in a kind of tense line that he'd never seen her wear before.
"Did you want the bed?" he offered, thinking that's what she was getting at.
Her breath left her lungs in a halting puff. Her knees came up on the mattress, then she laid down next to him. Natsu went completely still, trapped and unsure of what to do. Lucy's head rested on his bicep, her one arm half on his chest, the other tucked beneath her body. Her legs pressed against his. She still shivered, her body so cold. There was so little space on the single mattress, he felt everything.
"Lucy—"
"You're warm."
He clammed up, pleased, but off balance.
"We can still be a team, right?" Lucy asked.
"I think so," Natsu responded a millisecond later.
Her breath was hot against his neck. "I want to say I'm sorry, Natsu." She didn't say it like she was apologizing, though. It was more of a statement. "Things have been weird." Her fingers tracked on their own accord, making small swirls over his pectoral.
Natsu swallowed, his throat no wider than a reed. "They're going to go back to normal soon. People are going to start coming home, Lucy." She'd be surrounded by all of the people she loved and she'd be happier again.
"Natsu?"
He turned his face down to look at her. Her eyes were wide, guileless. "Yeah?"
"What if you didn't leave?"
He tried not to feel guilty. I won't apologize. I won't. Not about this. That he was steadfast on. "My dad died, Lucy—"
She shook her head. "That's not what I meant."
"…Then what?"
Lucy said, "I mean…" She was so nervous she felt like her heart was exploding. How could she let the question go unasked, though? "Would we have been the way we always were, or would you have still tried to kiss me?"
Natsu knew he had a dumbstruck look on his face. He could do little to wipe it away, though. He was quiet for too long. Say something. "If you wanted me to."
"The other day… Did you think I wanted you to?"
The hits kept coming and he kept falling short. "Lucy—"
She drove the nail home. "Maybe you weren't wrong."
He floundered long enough for her to drop her gaze. Now he looked at the top of her blonde head and still didn't know what to say. Lucy's fingers swirled on his chest for a long time. Eventually they slowed. Her breaths evened out. Her eyes drooped closed.
Positive she was asleep, Natsu grabbed the blanket bunched at his side and brought it up over their bodies. He closed his eyes. They kept coming open. His heart was beating too hard. 'Maybe you weren't wrong.' Sure, he'd tried to kiss her, but it was different hearing her say maybe she wanted to be kissed.
Go to sleep.
His eyes slid closed. The cold in his palm that had been riding around all day and all night expanded. It hurt, but he was already on the cusp of dream; there was no going back.
The sky was an azure so pure it was near iridescent, the grass so green it was near violent. Natsu's hands were clumsy pulling at the tufts of dandelion gone to seed. The gray spores would lift into the air each time he touched them and were taken away by the wind. He watched them soar up, up, and then away. Some landed in Zeref's night-black hair. His brother smiled, his lips moving in a way that was carefree, not yet kissed by sadness or remorse.
"Did you make a wish?"
"That we'll live forever, you and me." Natsu's voice sounded strange to his ears. Small. Full of wonder and awe and the spark of adventure.
"Think of how we'd torment mother." Zeref laughed. "She has more than enough of you on a daily basis. That's why I get stuck babysitting."
Natsu felt his bottom lip pout out. "You don't have fun?"
Zeref still smiled. "I should be studying, Natsu. S-t-u-d-y-i-n-g."
"You're always studying."
"Yeah, that's what happens when you go to university." Zeref said it like he'd explained this to his brother multiple times. "You're only four, Natsu, I wouldn't expect you to understand."
Natsu's mouth furled into a threatening pout. Zeref looked at him warily as if expecting an outburst. He wouldn't be wrong. To distract his brother, he said, "But I'm not studying now. What do you want to do? Anything; I'll make it so."
Natsu's bottom lip disappeared into his mouth. "Anything?"
"That's what I said."
"Mulberry pie."
Zeref's lip quirked again. "I don't think that's an activity, but sure, we can see if Valentina has made any."
The world shifted, the dream changed. The smell of pie was thick in the air. Dark mulberry stain was all over his fingers, the sugary berries all over his shirt. Mother never would have let him eat so savagely, but Mother wasn't there and Zeref… he wasn't paying Natsu any attention, his gaze caught on Valentina's form. She leaned back against the cool chimney and smiled with a plump mouth that looked as stained as Natsu's mulberry fingers.
Natsu ate his pie happily while he watched his brother do the same. It was fascinating, seeing him like this. It was like a switch being flipped. Zeref's smiles came brightly and frequently in this small hut belonging to the baker and his daughter. Coming here for the pies was definitely a treat, but seeing his brother's interaction with this girl was the real reason Natsu wanted to come. Zeref was happier here.
He finished his pie and searched for a second slice, planting his messy fingers on the scuffed floorboards and clambering clumsily to his feet.
Valentina's laugh was wind chime clear. "Natsu, you're getting pie everywhere. Father will come home and think something terrible has happened."
He didn't know what she meant by that. "More?"
She shook her head. "You've had enough, I think."
Natsu felt yet another tantrum coming on. Zeref gave him a horrified look, as if saying 'Don't you dare.' The sob was coming anyway, though. It dried up when Valentina appeared with a damp red cloth in hand. She knelt in front of him, white skirts billowing. She smelled like roses and baking sugar. She was midnight haired and sky eyed. Her mouth was kind, her hands sure as she took the damp cloth and wiped Natsu's fingers clean, then his mouth. She pinched his cheek next. "You're going to be a handsome boy, Natsu, just like your brother."
He turned his face away shyly, crying forgotten. She stood. Natsu peaked under his lashes, watching Valentina go to Zeref, cloth brandished again.
"Messy eating must run in the family."
She dabbed his mouth. Zeref's cheeks were also red.
Levy McGarden wasn't a fighter, not by any stretch of the imagination. Her magic had always been good to her in that regard, keeping physical confrontations low. It wasn't until she was up against a magic-nullifying mage that she realized maybe other precautions needed to be taken.
Thus, Gajeel had agreed to train her with the blessing of the Magic Council.
When they'd first started days ago, Levy was terrible. She was terrible at making a fist (Gajeel promptly corrected her form, telling her in that not-so-polite way he had that she was going to 'break her stupid fingers'). She was terrible at throwing a punch ('I know you don't have much weight behind ya, Shrimp, but do better than that'). And she was terrible at reading his body language. Honestly, he barely flinched when he made his move. She'd spent a lot of time on a not-as-soft-as-it-could-be mat, staring up at the riveted ceiling while she wondered if she had a concussion.
He was relentless, barking orders at her every chance he got. Levy got better. A little, anyway. Not as good as she wanted to be, she discovered as she soared through the air for what felt like the tenth time that evening. This time when she fell, Gajeel came down with her, his hands fisted in the lapel of her council issue jacket. His knee landed firmly beside her, just barely digging into her ribs. It hurt, but it could have hurt a lot more. She winced. Gajeel loosened his hold. They both just panted for long seconds.
Levy gathered her words. "Sorry, Gajeel."
He looked like he was going to scold her. Then his expression smoothed. "The next time we try, you'll get it." It was a demand, not an encouragement. Man, he was a hardass sometimes.
In an attempt to justify her continual failure, Levy said, "You're a lot bigger than me."
"It won't always be a fair fight. Most of the people that go rogue aren't girl's like you, sweet tempered and soft, they're power crazed lunatics that won't stop until they have what they want. You in a coffin."
Levy blinked frustrated tears away so she didn't miss the way Gajeel's face softened and hated him for it. Who wanted pity?
"Ahem." A snooty if not bored and exasperated voice rang out through the training room. "I hope I'm not interrupting."
Levy closed her eyes and counted to three. There was only one person she knew who could master that particular cadence. Gajeel loosened his hold on her lapel and stood, then helped her up as well. By the time she was standing, Levy found a reserve of patience and a spare smile.
"Chairman."
Draculos Hyberion was a peculiar man, from his cross-shaped tattoo to his pointed ears and annoying little mustache. Levy treated him with respect every moment she could because he was a powerful mage and the new Chairman of the magic council.
That didn't make his humming and hawing and need for excellence any less aggravating, though.
"I have a mission for you two, and that Exceed of yours, Gajeel," Draculos said. He was a no-nonsense kind of man, cutting straight to the heart of matters without fail.
Gajeel straightened his collar, his sleeves. His hands still burned from where he'd grabbed Levy; the sensation was quickly fading with the addition of Chairman Draculos, though. "What's that?"
Levy winced, willing Gajeel to be more respectful. He was about as dense as a donkey's ass when it came to covert looks, though. He ignored hers completely. Whether or not that was purposeful was up for debate.
Draculos said, "There have been anomalous fluctuations in the flow of magic all throughout Fiore. The areas in which its passed have been completely drained of magic. It looks like someone's been harvesting it."
Gajeel's eyes sparked with interest. "Yeah?"
"Yes," he confirmed.
"Are we to arrest them?" Levy asked.
Draculos didn't hesitate. "The levels that are being collected rival that of those found in the Tower of Heaven eight years ago. No one gathers power of that magnitude for any benevolent purpose. Though alive would be preferable, I would accept dead, too."
Levy identified the feeling in her chest: fear.
Gajeel was steadfast. Always. "We're on it."
"There's something else you should know," Draculos said solemnly.
Levy clutched her elbows. "What is it?"
Draculos looked like he was having a very vocal internal debate. Finally, he admitted, "Some have theorized that the individual responsible has a goal in mind. While the drain sites have been popping up all over Fiore, they're trekking east, towards Magnolia. After the battle Fairy Tail had with Tartarus, there was a large deposit of magical energy left behind. It's in the earth. It's likely that's their target."
"Alright," Gajeel said. He turned to Levy.
Before he could get another word out, Draculos said, "There have been some… reports that there are some members of your old guild gathering again in Magnolia."
Gajeel was the first to find his voice. "Why didn't you say something sooner?"
"To be frank, Gajeel, I didn't want to have to replace either of you," Draculos said. "The council needs stability now more than ever. How would it look if the head of my Magic Enforcement Unit resigned after such a short term?"
Gajeel's jaw bounced with annoyance. "I think that's my choice to make."
Draculos bowed his head in acceptance. "Which is why I chose to inform you myself. Am I to take this as your resignation, then? Do I need to find someone else for this mission?"
Gajeel turned to Levy. Levy nibbled her lip until it hurt, torn. "We'll do the mission. There's no sense in resigning over rumor."
Draculos nodded. "I expect a full report, then, just as soon as you discover who is creating that anomaly and why." He turned on his heel, cape swirling around his legs as dramatic as ever, and exited the training room. The door smacked closed.
Silence prevailed.
"You think it's a load of shit?" Gajeel asked finally.
Levy shook herself. "Is it bad that part of me hopes not?"
"Why would it be bad?"
She shrugged. "We do good work here, Gajeel. The Chairman is right; the council needs stability."
"I'll do whatever you want to do," he said. The words came out easy and offhanded. Levy saw them for what they were, an offering to stay together. Her heart swelled so it felt several sizes too large for her chest. She smiled, suddenly shy.
"Yeah?"
Gajeel, though he put on a good show, found something other than her eyes to look at. His loose hair mostly hid how red his neck had gotten. "Yeah. Let's go get Lily, get him up to speed."
