...wow. It's been THAT long since I've updated, huh?
Honestly, I'm really sorry. I don't have any excuse(s) as to why I didn't update; but the truth is, I just didn't have any inspiration to continue this story. That doesn't mean I was planning to give up on this story in the first place-it was more like I kept putting it off, and focused on the real-life matters in my life for the past two years.
I've finally decided to update, so here's the 5th chapter. Again, I'm sorry its late.
Rain...there was rain everywhere. It soaked through his clothes, and bounced on and off his hair-but he didn't care. Why should he care if some stupid rain was falling on him? His life was already miserable as it was. What would a little rain do to make it worse?
Looking at the raindrops as it fell in the lake in front of him, he gave a heavy sigh as he wrapped his arms around his legs, pulling his chest closer to his knees for any sort of warmth that would help him from getting too cold. The guild was too far away to walk to, and at this rate, he doubted he would have the energy to want to run over there. Besides, it wasn't like anybody wanted him there anyways.
He grinded his teeth together in anger. Who needed them anyways? All he needed was Igneel. He was the strongest dragon in the world, and could destroy all of them in seconds! Ha, he'd like to see the look on their faces when he and Igneel storm into the guild and watch as everybody crowds away in fear at how strong they both are as a family-
His thoughts were cut short when he realized...Igneel had abandoned him as well.
The alarm clock blared. The sound of shuffling was heard throughout the room. The sleeping form of a certain salmon-haired boy was soon disrupted by the alarm clock, and he groaned in annoyance. The blaring stopped for a moment, and Natsu gave a mental sigh of relief, curling up more into his bed as he wrapped his blanket around his tighter.
'I'll just sleep for a few minu-'
BEEEP!
A vein popped on Natsu's head. He angrily through the covers and blankets off him and with a "Shut up!" slammed his fist onto the alarm clock, smashing it into pieces. Natsu gave another sigh and scratched his head. Was it too much to get a little more sleep?!
"Oh crap..." He said when he noticed that he had broken another alarm clock, and sweatdropped. A frustrated sigh escaped his lips, as he began to stretch his arms before he got out of bed.
He slowly walked over to his drawer, and noticed a neatly folded pair of clothing on top of it. There was a note on top of it. With his tired hand, Natsu reached for it and slowly read the note, still trying to adjust his now clearing eyesight.
Natsu mentally thanked Lisanna after reading the note, and took the well ironed clothes into the bathroom with him. Not even bothering to pick up the note that he had just carelessly thrown on the floor.
When he finished changing, he looked himself into the mirror. A simple black T-shirt under a dark sweater, with dark blue jeans. He touched his neck and noticed that something was missing. 'Of course,' he thought with a longing smile, how could he forget?
"...but where did I put it?"
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"Oi, Lucy." She was half-asleep when she heard her name being called, but still didn't want to answer back to the voice. She was too tired. She grabbed the warm blanket that was wrapped around her, and pulled it next to her. She snuggled into it, and ignored the voice that was speaking to her.
"Lucy, wake up." The voice sounded like it was starting to get a bit impatient, but Lucy gave no answer. But somehow, Lucy recognized the voice from somewhere.
"Lucy!" Still no answer. A vein popped on the voices' head, and Lucy felt a body crawl on the bed, and began tugging on the blanket.
'Leave me alone!' Lucy whined in her head, wanting the voice to just shut up for five minutes.
"Oi, if you don't wake up, I'll pour a bucket of ice cold water on you!" That seemed to get her attention. Lucy snapped her eyes opened and forced herself to bent in a sitting position. She had felt cold water hit her on mornings before. And it had NOT felt good. So, she had tried to sit up as quickly as possible.
...Which was a bad idea.
"Ite!" Was the sound that Lucy made after her forehead came in contact with something hard, and fell back on the pillow as she clutched her throbbing forehead. She hissed as she felt a small bump on her forehead begin to form. "O-ow...what the heck was that...?!"
"'That' was me." A masculine voice answered, and Lucy cracked one eye open to see-
"GRAY?!" She shrieked, and began blushing madly when she saw that he was only in his dark blue boxers; she threw the nearest pillow at him as hard as she could resulting in Gray falling of the bed with a 'oomf!' as Lucy shut her eyes tight.
"What the hell was that for?!" Gray yelled, a small vein popped on his forehead as he tended to his throbbing head with a glare sent to the beautiful blonde on the bed in front of him. "Is that how you treat people who give you a place to stay in when you're injured?"
Lucy's eyes blink in confusion. What was he talking about? But soon her chocolate brown eyes grew wide when she saw all the bandages wrapped around her. "Eh?! Nani?! W-What happened?!" She inspected on the bandages on her; each were wrapped tight, but not too tight that it would hurt her, and looked as if they were brand new.
'Did he have to change my bandages constantly...?' She thought, observing how the bandages looked as if they were wrapped around her delicately.
As if he read her mind, Gray spoke up, "I wrapped your bandages first, but then my brother started to laugh at my, quote: 'Failed attempt', so my sister had to change them." He explained, as he stood up and crawled onto the bed. Lucy eyed his movements, as he sat down indian style, and continued.
"But then later, some of the bandages were starting to get a bit soaked by your blood," he said, but quickly added when he saw how Lucy's face was turning to one of horror, "-but not a lot, I promise, while you were sleeping, so I quickly changed them," he pointed to the ones on her arms, "As you can see, I think I did a pretty good job of them." He gave a small smirk.
Lucy lightly touched her bandaged, and winced when she felt some of the pain still there. 'But', she thought as she tried to move her arms and legs and neck around, 'I can still move most of my body around without it hurting a ton.'
Lucy gave him an appreciative nod of her head, she smiled at the teen boy in front of her, "Arigato, Gray. You're a life saver," she tilted her head cutely when she saw Gray raised his brow, "really, thanks."
Gray gave a small 'hmph', and turned his head away, as to look indifferent of her appreciation. But Lucy could see the smile he tried to hide, and couldn't help but lightly giggle at his actions.
She suddenly stopped, and groaned as she clutched her head. That alerted Gray, and he quickly crawled over to her, "Lucy? Are you okay?!" Gray asked worriedly, as he held onto Lucy's wrists as she tried to numb the pain. She was starting to remember the events from the day before; the visit to Mirajane's house, the kidnapper's who almost got away with it, and her savior...
Wait, how did she get here? Where was her saviour? And exactly who saved her?
There was so many questions on her mind that was starting to make her head spin. "Lucy," said girl looked up, her chocolate ones met his dark blue ones. "Are you okay?"
Lucy gave a small nod, confused.
Gray gave a sigh of relief, his stiff shoulders relaxing as he let go of Lucy's wrists. "Good. You had me worried there for a second."
That's when Lucy realized how her actions had affected Gray, and exclaimed, "Oh! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make you worry, Gray." She apologized sincerely.
Gray waved his hand, "Don't worry about it." He said, and watched as Lucy gave him a small smile. He felt himself getting all warm inside, and wondered what the hell he was feeling. Was this feeling what he thought it was...? Was he seriously thinking this...? Could he actually be...
Her long-lost family member who he could feel a family connection with her that would somehow bring them both close together and they would both try to find their parents in search of the answers to their questions on why he and Lucy were separated...?!
The moment after he voiced it in his head, he inwardly snorted. 'Nah. I should stop watching that TV show too much...'
Suddenly, the white door bursted open, and a figure quickly let himself into the dark blue room and shut the door behind him just as fast. A panicked cry was soon hear, "Gray! Help me!"
Gray sighed, and by the way he had heard the tone and sound of the voice, Gray already knew what had (and currently was) happening, but he had to ask to make sure... "What is it, Lyon?"
Lucy cocked her head to the side. "Who's Lyon?" She turned her head to the teenage male who blinked at her appearance. He had bluish silver hair, his spiky strands that jut upwards on top of his head, except some strands pointed down, covering a little bit of the top left side of his face. His eyes were slanted, with dark round eyes.
But as Lucy finished observing his face, she proceeded to look as his whole appearance-
"GAHHHHH!" Lucy screamed, covering her eyes with her hands as she blushed madly. She tried to erase the image of Lyon without a shirt with just boxers like Gray, and her mind slowly began to drift to how Lyon and Gray's toned, muscular upper body...
"But some clothes on, you bakas!" A voice said angrily from the front door, making all three teens in the room jump. An older teenaged girl with long, dark purple with brown eyes wearing a long white night gown with a ribbon on her waist, walked in angrily, as a dark evil aura surrounded her. She began popping her knuckles, giving a malicious glare at the two scared brothers with a creepy, sickly sweet smile. "I swear, I'll end both your stripping habits, and make sure you guys never, ever, have the urge to strip again because when you do, I'll-!"
The young woman halted when she saw that Lucy was looking just as scared as her two brothers were. She immediately regained her composure, but not before sending a dark glare at the two males. She let out a small laugh and gave Lucy a genuine sweet smile, completely different from the one she had shown before, "I'm very sorry for my brother's behaviors! We're usually not like this every morning!"
Lucy sweatdropped. What the fast change in attitude... "Y-Yeah," Lucy gave her a weak smile. Boy, was this girl scary... "Don't worry, its fine."
The young woman shook Lucy's hand. "I don't think Gray's mentioned me before," she shot a sickly sweet smile at Gray, who only shivered and shook his head at his older sister in response; he didn't want to die today, "but I'm his older sister, Ultear. Nice to meet you...?"
"Lucy." Lucy supplied, as she shook Ultear's hand, and gave a short bow to the older female. "Nice to meet you, Ultear-san."
"Ultear is fine," Ultear gave a small laugh, "I don't want to sound old."
"Not that you aren't." Both Gray and Lyon said simultaneously, without realizing what they just said out loud.
"..." The room suddenly became silent, and it took a few moments for the two brothers to realize what they just said, and as soon as they noticed, their heart stopped for a moment. Slowly looking up at their sister, their eyes widened like dinner plates, mouths agape in fear as they saw a dark, venom aura surrounding their sister, who's hair was covering her face as she gave them a creepy, evil laugh.
"Now then...who wants to see hell first? Amazing little brother Lyon? Or sweet baby brother Gray? Or if not, I think I can arrange both..."
"N-NO!" Both the brother's managed to yelp out, as they immediately when on their hands and knees, and began to beg for their sister's forgiveness. Lucy only watched with both awe and fear at the sight of Gray and his older brother, Lyon, completely afraid of their older sister. She had to admit, Ultear was scary...but to think that she could scare both boys enough to make them bow down...it honestly astonished Lucy.
"Hmph," Ultear gave a satisfied smirk before turning around and waving her hand, "Be glad that I'm giving you guys mercy today just because Lucy's here; otherwise, next time you won't be so lucky." Lucy flickered her gaze to the brothers as they vigorously nodded before Lyon fled the scene, and Gray began to stand up.
"Lucy," At the sound of her name, said blonde looked up at Ultear from Gray's bed and saw the woman give her a kind smile, "I'll give you a change of clothes, because my idiot brother," she pointed at a thumb at Gray who gave a small "Huh?", "Forgot to tell me that you still had your wet clothes on. Pardon his rudeness."
"Oi," Gray scoffed and turned away, walking over to his dresser and pulling out a white shirt and some jeans, "I didn't want to make her think I was going to molest her, and you were still at work, so I couldn't do anything about it."
"Whatever," Ultear clicked her tongue and motioned Lucy to follow, "Come, Lucy. Don't worry, I don't bite." Ultear added the last part when she noticed Lucy's hesitance to come follow her. Lucy gave a small nod, trusting the woman, and soon followed her to her room.
A while later, Lucy came back with fresh, clean clothes; wearing a pink, strappy camisole top and black drawstring shorts with brown sandals. Her hair was tied up in a side ponytail, with a pink ribbon tying it up. She didn't usually wear too much make-up, so she felt alright without any applied on her.
As she finally reached the living room, she saw Gray and Lyon, as well as Ultear discussing in the kitchen. What felt strange was the fact that they all seemed so...secretive. Was there a problem with her being there? 'Maybe I should leave...' She thought as she bit her lip, and walked into the kitchen unsuspectingly, giving a small smile, "Well, I want to thank you all for being so kind to me, and taking care of me while I was out, but it seems like I should get home now."
At the sound of her voice, the trio of siblings dispersed and all looked at her. Ultear was the first one to react, giving a small smile to the younger woman, "No, Lucy, why don't you stay for a while longer? Gray was going to make breakfast anyway, and I'd feel terrible if you didn't eat first. Besides, Gray is a real chef in the kitchen." Ultear had added the last part after Lucy gave an unconvincing look, and as soon as she insisted, Lucy had agreed.
It wasn't like the last part was a lie; in reality, Gray really was a chef-or, at least, should be. After Ultear had gotten a job, Lyon had been the one to tidy up the house and cleaned everywhere before Ultear got home, while Gray was the one who later learned to cook, so that it wouldn't have to be Lyon's or Ultear's job to do so. It had been like that for a while: Ultear bringing in the money to support them, Lyon being the tidy housewife of the family (even if he did deny it, Ultear knew he knew it was true), and Gray being the meal-maker everyday for them; breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
After breakfast was set, Gray called everybody in from the living room to come in the kitchen. Throughout the whole breakfast, lively chatter was heard, and Lucy got to know a bit more about Gray's family.
Just as Lyon was talking about his part-time job working as a cashier at some movie theatre, the television was suddenly turned on by an annoyed Gray that had been bored of listening to his siblings rant about themselves, and had wanted a different type of distraction from eating.
As the bored teen switched along the channels, his gaze at the TV next to the table widened as he stopped at a certain news channel. His eyes perked up at a familiar name pop up from the female news reporter and felt himself smirk, knowing exactly who they were talking about.
"Oi, guys," he interrupted, momentarily glancing at the newly unbandaged blonde before turning his attention back to the TV. Everyone at the table shifted their gaze to the television as well, and watched as a brunette with long hair was speaking at the camera. She gracefully whipped her hair back and continued reporting, "This morning at around six, police have found an alleyway just next to this gasoline station here that has broken and burnt crates as well as trash, dry blood stains, and large indentations on the walls directly next to the alley. Although police are still investigating this crime, it has been reported that this is most likely the doing of The Salamander; who in the past few years has been wanted do to having a tendency to burn and destroy city property using his illegal magic..."
As the report went on, the three siblings all shared a glance at each other, before ultimately the two older siblings turned towards their youngest, giving him a 'what-do-you-have-to-say-for-this' look. Gray's brows furrowed as he closed his eyes pinching the bridge of his nose as he said carefully after making sure Lucy was too busy to hear them, "I'll talk with him later." He murmured, ignoring the distrustful looks they sent at him.
Lucy, on the other hand, was staring intently at the TV, easily recognizing it as the place where she had been kidnapped from last night. No words escaped her, as she felt hr eyes widen, having a gut feeling just exactly who it was that rescued her. She felt herself mentally facepalm. Of course her rescuer had to be a mage; why hadn't she thought of that in the first place? For a moment the thought of her rescuer being a mage of all people; a person with magic ability that was illegal and forbidden to have world-wide, a criminal of the law, actually saving her?
"The Salamander..." Lucy whispered, as she remembered the warmth she felt when he rescued her, the name repeating over and over like a broken soundtrack in her head. She felt herself become flustered at remembering the strong arms that held her, and made a silent vow to find him wherever he was. Despite knowing that he was wanted -and well known in the area at that- she wanted to be able to fully thank him for what he'd done; it was the least she could do.
But how could she able to find him?
Too deep in her thoughts, the young woman hadn't noticed that her finished meal has been cleaned up along with the other dishes and that everyone had been dismissed except for Gray, who had just finished packing up the left-overs and came back to the table for the buxom blonde. Returning back, he eyed the woman in front of him for a moment before shrugging off the weird concentrated look she was making and shook her out of her focused-state. "Oi, Lucy."
He continued when the blonde snapped out of her thoughts and turned her head behind her, "I'm sorry for not asking you this earlier; but you could either stay here for a while longer, or I could go take you home. I never gave you a phone to call your parents, they're probably worried sick." He tossed his unlocked phone to her, as she caught it with a yelp.
As she dialed it, she pressed the phone to her ear mouthing a 'thank you' to Gray before said male walked out of the room to give her some privacy.
He decided on the living room, sitting on the couch as he turned on the TV, switching through random channels before landing on a random children's cartoon show. Something about some boy living with some of his mom's friends with...some jewel on his navel? He began to lose interest as his thoughts began to elsewhere.
Leaning forward with his hands clasped together, he neared his hands to his lips, getting into a thinking position. 'What the hell happened with last night?' Gray thought, brows furrowing. 'First of all, I get a call from Natsu in the middle of the night, saying that he needs my help for something urgent and important, and I could hear how panicked he sounded. Which is weird, because this is Natsu we're talking about. Since when has he ever panicked about anything? Second, when I finally go outside my house, I see a wet Natsu carrying an unconscious Lucy in the rain. What the hell happened anyway?! That idiot didn't even have the decency to tell me what he had done to Lucy; because most likely, this had to be Natsu's fault!'
Gray scowled, internally making himself remember to get an answer from that pyro. 'And lastly, why would this idiot go out to help Lucy? Not that Lucy isn't a nice new girl, but she's a newbie. Natsu's never cared much about newbies...except for Gajeel. But otherwise, what's his motive behind helping her? Does this have something to do about that alley next to that one store? Ugh...well, at least Lucy's alright now. But while she was looking at the TV, she had a weird look on her face...' Gray's brows furrowed even more. 'Maybe she recognized the alleyway? Was even she there last night? She didn't seem to notice me observing her as she watched the news...crap, is she going to try looking for Natsu? Hell, I didn't even even tell her how she even got to my house. And I can't reveal to her who he is...Natsu made me promise...'
Gray gave a groan and layed on his couch, relaxing his muscles and his thinking brain. He had only one option anyway. 'I guess I'll just have to make a convincing lie. For her sake.'
"...But what do I tell her?"
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Lisanna hummed as she let the dish in the pot slowly simmer, and set her large spoon on the counter. Taking the apron off her and neatly folding it, she floated over to the other side of the kitchen and closed the cookbook that Natsu had bought her as a present before he left this morning. She felt herself smile.
Although today would officially be her second day on Earth, she had decided to let the plan last out longer and let herself enjoy what life she had here. It was nice to have Natsu as a companion, and since they had made up last night, Lisanna was determined to make sure she wasn't a burden to the poor male. He was nice and sweet, and although he could become easily flustered and had a somewhat short temper, she didn't mind the fact that he didn't seem to want to bring up any of his friends or family.
If he wanted to tell her more about him, she would wait until he was comfortable enough to do so. After the incident yesterday, she thought it would be best if she not ask him unnecessary or unwanted questions that could trigger a reaction like that.
She giggled at the thought of Natsu's blushing face. Gosh, he just looked so cute when he did it! That Lucy girl would sure be lucky to have him as her husband in the future.
Setting herself on the light colored couch, she eyed the clock on top of the TV before turning it on and switching to find a channel. It was barely 11, and Natsu wouldn't come home until 12 for lunch. Although she had questioned him earlier in the morning if he was even allowed to leave campus, seeing as he was still a high schooler, but he only waved off her concern, and told her not to worry about it. He'd "take care" of it.
She sighed, hoping that Natsu wouldn't do anything reckless. Even if she hadn't known him for that long, she already felt like she knew his habits and reactions to certain situations. Much like the what happened the previous night.
She felt herself smile at the product of last night's event. Although in the end, the Lucy girl ended up staying at another person's house (she had wanted Natsu to take her to their apartment), at least it had sparked Lucy's interest in him. Although she didn't know the 'Salamander's' identity yet...
Lisanna immediately halted.
She had said 'their' apartment.
She bit her lip, lowering down the TV volume as she began to think. Could she honestly call this her home as well? Natsu had never stated otherwise, instead calling her a welcome guest...but for how long would she be welcome in this apartment? Would she stay here long enough for the plan to be successful and completed? She really did hope so-having someone to talk to while she was still new here was nice. And Natsu...
She shook her head. No, she couldn't ask for more than what she had already. She was already thankful enough that Natsu had let her stay at his home, and she didn't want to take advantage of that.
'That's it.' She thought determinedly. 'I'll just stay here while the plan is still in motion. Afterwards, when Lucy, hopefully, moves in with him, I'll just leave him be and thank him for everything. He at least deserves that much...just don't try to get too close to him, alright Lisanna? It'll be harder to say goodbye to him...'
With that, the ivory haired angel turned up the volume of Natsu's TV, waiting patiently for the young man to return home.
Completely unaware of a small raven looking from the porch, eyeing her frame and her noticeable angel wings. Without making a sound, it flew away into the sky, with important news to tell its master.
Aaaaaaaaaaand, done.
Again, I really do apologize for the long wait I had for this chapter, and many of you are probably disappointed with the fact that there wasn't much (if there were any) NaLi scenes, but I can assure you the next chapter after the Bonus!AU chapter I've written before this will have a lot more Natsu and Lisanna interaction! ;)
I hope you guys still take the time to review this chapter and tell me what you think of it. So please R&R!
The Bonus!AU chapter will be posted in about a week or so (hopefully) but please bare with me. Have a wonderful evening, and I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter.