It's all in the Mind
Left. Right. Block. Jab. Dodge, Jab, I repeated these movements as I landed another hit on my sparring partner, Sting. Wiping the sweat from my forehead I signaled for a short break. I used these few minutes to think back to this morning, cursing my indiscretion that caused Lucy to force a smile.
Half of the time I didn't know what went through my partner's mind, and the other half I did. This was one of the times I wish I didn't know what was going on in her mind. By her expression, I knew she was thinking of me, but not in the way I wanted her to. I could faintly hear what my blonde haired friend, Sting, said as I debated on whether to call her and see if she was okay, but then again, I was her problem.
"Fuck." I cursed as a shadow casted over me.
"Natsu-san?" Sting said as I looked up. "What?"
He sighed before taking a seat next to me and asked, "Trouble in paradise?"
I frowned. I did tell Sting about my cover with Lucy, but not the actual mission cause otherwise Laxus would have my hide. I wasn't going to tell this guy about my personal dilemmas. He prompted, "Well?"
After a few moments of hesitation, I spoke with an exasperated sigh, "It's my partner."
"The blonde chick from last time?" I frowned at the word 'chick', but nevertheless nodded. I could remember the first time I bought Lucy with me to the gym.
It was a scorching summer day and she needed a break from being stuffed inside her apartment, writing that not so secret novel I heard her talking about with Levy, when we had gotten back from out last mission. I pulled up towards Lucy's apartment and called, asking if she was ready. Lucy responded, "I'll be out there in a minute!"
Once she got in the car, I noticed that she wore a pink athletic tank top, and a pair of black Nike shorts. After a few minutes of driving on the road, she asked "So what kind of gym is it?"
I pondered for a moment. "A fun one."
"By definition of fun you mean by…" Lucy gestured with her hand to continue.
"It's like the agency with a few less women in it, and minus the paperwork." I explained, which seemed to content the beautiful woman beside me. When we got there, Sting and the others were already working up a sweat. I shouted, "Hey guys!"
They stopped to wave, but took one look at Lucy and had these weird creepy grins on their faces, something I couldn't fathom. Marco was the first to break the silence, "Who's the girl?"
"I'm Lucy, nice to meet you. Hey Natsu, I'mma work on the treadmill for a bit." Without another word, she left me as I noticed the guys that weren't married had their eyes on her, and not in a good way. Hell,even Sting left his usual spot on the arm press system to go talk to Lucy, and that didn't go well with me, but I ignored that sour feeling spreading throughout me.
"Natsu!" I turned from my sand bag to Lucy's voice; she gestured for me to come over, "What do you need?"
My partner pointed to Sting who said, "Spar with me."
"Don't we spar every time?"
"Only this time, we're sparring with a bet." When he said those last words, Sting glanced towards Lucy as I raised a brow, "What kind of bet?"
"If Sting wins, I have to go on a date with him."
"So what does that have to do with me?"
"Let me finish, there's something in it for you." stated Lucy as I walked up to her.
"Oh really, so if I win..." I leaned closer and whispered in her ear and continued, "I get to sleep with you tonight, in your comfy bed."
It wasn't often I got to sleep in Lucy's soft bed, this habit of sleeping in her bed was something I had start on our first mission, when we both were too dead tired and fell asleep in each other's arms. Unfortunately, the next morning I got a rude awakening from Lucy when she slammed her foot on my chest, causing me to fall flat on the carpet floor. Lucy turned red, "W-what?!"
"You heard me, Luce. Tonight. Your bed, you, and me!" I grinned as she lightly punched me on the shoulder, "Baka! Save that grin for when you win!"
"Whatever you say, mother." I chuckled as Sting and I headed over to the boxing ring set in the middle of the gym. We picked up some leftover boxing gloves as the other men started to bet without a second thought. We exchanged a few punches before I landed a kick on one of Sting's ribs and quickly retracted it.
"No." Sting growled before getting up. He swept me off my feet as I landed with a thud! We both got up and resumed the assault of jabs and blocks till I grabbed his arm, going under it before flipping him over. "Had enough?"
I glanced over to the old men steering their bets onto me as I swayed side to side avoiding his punches, till Sting landed a punch on my cheek, and then some of the bets hesitantly went onto Sting. Once I landed a another punch in Sting's ribs, the coach, Jura stepped in, much to the other men's dismay and deemed me the winner. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Gray grumble then hand over some money to Lyon who grinned at his earnings. I turned around to see Lucy and flashed her a knowing grin.
"So what happened with her?" asked Sting, my new consultant on relationships.
"…I brought up something I shouldn't have."
"Okay… So is she like ignoring you or something?"
"Not really."
"Natsu… You're too soft for your own good when it comes to that woman." Just when I was about to protest he added, "Let me finish first."
"So what if you cause her to feel a bit sad, you're being too hard on yourself. Your world doesn't revolve around her does it?"
"No." Yes, my mind corrected. I couldn't deny that she had me wrapped around her finger as I did with her.
"Exactly, that's why don't feel guilty about something you didn't do physically. Anyways, let's call it a day. I need to get back to Minerva, she'll have my hide if she found out I wasn't working on this month's column." He shudders at the mere thought of her wrath. After he left, I spent a few last minutes in the shower that the gym had installed a few months ago. Once I was done, I packed up my water bottle, a few energy bars, my sweaty workout clothes, and headed out of the den. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw white. Nothing, but white.
Quickly, I turned to see a white haired woman, her hair was cut short to her neck. My eyes widened and my heart nearly stopped, I called out with my voice cracked, "Lisanna?"
"Turn back now, Gray, Juvia. Otherwise, the next time I won't just graze your face," threatened Levy in a cold monotone voice as her past friends heard her over the useless intercom that could be easily hacked and jacked. Gray shot back, "Hell no. Why are you doing this, Levy? Do you want to be labeled as a traitor? Come back with us, Levy, we'll find a way to get Gajeel back."
Levy fired another bullet that stopped Gray in his tracks. "There is no way to get him back, Gray. I know that man will make him suffer till I terminate every single person who stands in his way. Fortunately for you two, you're not on his hit list."
"Levy, I'm not going to say this again, come with us. One person can't stop a whole agency from rescuing one person."
"Do you really think that?" Levy paused, "He has a-"
"Levy." The blue haired woman jolted at hearing her partner's hoarse voice, then quickly turned around to face the person whom she thought was dead. Her heart nearly stopped at the shock "No.. It can't be! Gaje-"
Her words was quickly cut off as the iron clad man swiftly hit her on the back of her neck. Gajeel picked up the unconscious woman then looked down onto the duo with a firm scowl, "Go."
"But-" Juvia protested as Gajeel growled, "I ain't gonna say it again, go."
Juvia glanced at Gray as they hesitantly backed off, leaving the premises. "What should we tell Mira, Juvia?"
"Nothing, if Gajeel-san is alive and hiding it from Levy-san. That means he has something planned. So for now, we do nothing." said Juvia as they walked back to their hotel room.
"We're going to receive a huge scolding from Mira later." pointed out Gray as his partner nodded, "I know that, but I trust Gajeel to do the right thing."
It's been two months since I've last update, so I do apologize for the lateness due to the fact that I had the English EOC, and other stories to update as well. I hope you've enjoyed this chapter, comments, suggestion, and concerns are much appreciated.