"You fucking know that I can't do this!"
Lisanna was just about able to hear Bickslow's shouting over the ruckus of the guild below her as she pressed her ear against the door of the Master's office.
"You were fine taking part in the trials last year, why are you kicking off now?"
A loud crash against the door forced Lisanna away from the wood and she imagined that something had been slammed into it as Bickslow's voice came through even louder.
"I wasn't up for S-Class last year! I was just helping Freed!"
She could hear the babies start to anger in the room behind the door, shouting their own nonsense words as Bickslow began to lose control.
"Why are you so scared, Bickslow. You are plenty strong enough to compete in the tri…"
"I STEAL PEOPLE'S SOULS!"
Another loud crash and Lisanna winced as she heard the cracking of wood followed by a gasp, and soon after the Master's voice came calmly through the door.
"Really? I didn't know."
The roar that came then was pure rage, and the loudest crash yet followed by the pattering of smaller objects falling to the floor. Lisanna wondered what it was.
"This isn't FUNNY! I can kill people by accident! That power should not be in the hands of someone who has any sort of responsibility!"
There was silence for a moment, and Lisanna wished she could see, wished she could help.
"I agree with you, somewhat. Your magic is incredibly dangerous. And for years you've controlled it, that takes a lot of strength. You've looked after yourself, and all five of your babies and kept them safe. Ask them if they think you're worthy. Ask Lisanna. Of course, if you make S Class the honour extends to these little guys too"
The small sobs that escaped the room tore into Lisanna's heart and she clasped her hands to stop her from storming in there and helping.
"What if I told you a secret?"
The Master's voice was quiet, comforting as if he was talking to a child. Lisanna heard a growl, echoed five times throughout the room.
"This is no time for your stupid games."
Lisanna nearly fell over as the door opened beside her. Catching her balance she looked up at the Master where he stood, one hand still resting on the door handle. His desk was split in two, a bookshelf had been thrown across the room as the books sprawled across the floor and Bickslow was sat on one of the windowsills, hands tugging at his hood in frustration as his babies came to greet her.
"You may as well come on in, Lisanna. He won't keep it a secret from you anyway."
"Lucy is going to be pretty easy. My babies can take away her keys, then we just need to worry about Loke. Good, now turn around and go back. And you know what Loke's like, all you need to do is start stripping and then…"
"Bickslow!"
She had to keep moving, balancing on the thin pole that spanned across two trees. This was the longest she had ever tried to do this before, and Bickslow wasn't even letting her use her takeovers to balance better. The man himself was perched on a vertical pole almost effortlessly and Lisanna was tempted to just throw something at him.
"Anyway, what about Natsu? He can wipe out your totems in one go."
Bickslow shrugged as his totems all started to shriek and whiz around, already getting nervous.
"That's why I'm staying the fuck away and you can deal with him."
Lisanna stopped, and instantly regretted it when she lost her balance and had to jump to the floor. She looked up at the Sieth as he tutted disapprovingly.
"What on Earthland makes you think I can deal with Natsu?"
Bickslow shrugged, jumping off his pole and executing a perfect flip before landing in front of her and placing a kiss on her forehead. She squirmed away, knowing perfectly well how sweaty she already was.
"I dunno, cause he likes you? Gotta admit I didn't really think that one through but hey we have time. Now come on, you're going through the course again."
Lisanna cursed. Bickslow's obstacle course was set up for him to find it a challenge, so Lisanna found it near impossible without switching into another soul. Taking a deep breath she sprinted towards the start of the course, throwing her arms out for balance as she hopped across the poles that stuck out of the ground. She had fallen into the mud below enough times to know that it was definitely not something she ever wanted to do again. She jumped higher off the last pole, grabbing hold of a bar above her as she swung across the monkey bars before pulling herself up to run across the pole spanning them and the next obstacle.
There wasn't even a break before she had to jump between two walls, kicking off each side before bounding off the other almost instantly. She was about halfway up when her momentum stalled, and she was left with one foot on either wall, her groin stretching uncomfortably between them. It was too far to fall down safely, and she had lost all momentum to go up so she just stayed there awkwardly. She started to transform, but Bickslow simply tutted from below.
"Why, Bickslow? Why can't I use magic!?"
She couldn't see him, but she just knew he would be crossing his arms and rolling his eyes at her.
"You said yourself, we can't be too reliant on it. We are up against at least two people who can wipe out our magic. I'm just holding you to your own rules."
Lisanna whined, her feet were starting to slip and if she wasn't too careful she was going to seriously injure herself. Trust this to be the one time Bickslow stuck to rules.
"Please, Bickslow…"
Lisanna breathed a sigh of relief when she heard the thudding of feet on the walls either side of her, and felt the vibrations shake up her legs. Their eyes only met for the briefest of seconds as he passed her, but it was enough. The ache in her muscles started to melt as she waited for him to get to the top and perch on the summit of one of the walls.
Seconds later her right leg bent without her permission, and with a strength she didn't know she had powered her into the left wall. It took five or six bounces to make it to the top, and when she did Bickslow guided her to his lap as he balanced on the edge of the wall and looked out over the trees. His totems flew behind him, propping up his back so he didn't fall and Lisanna relaxed as he finally released control of her.
"Thank you."
She felt him press a kiss against the shell of her ear before looking off over the tops of the trees to where she could see the Cathedral on the horizon. She sighed slightly, leaning her head back onto his shoulder.
"What if I can't do this, Bickslow?"
She heard him hum questioningly, swinging his legs underneath her as he tightened his grip around her waist.
"Look at all the nominations, I'm by far the weakest."
They sat in silence for a second, and she knew that he was thinking. The babies all begun to chatter amongst themselves the way that they did when his concentration drifted to somewhere else.
"Yup. You're right. You are. If you were on your own or with someone else you'd be fucked."
Lisanna froze. She hadn't been looking for compliments, but she thought he would at least say something nice about her. Anything but that. He didn't even seem to notice before he launched into his next sentence.
"But you've got me, Kitten. No one else's souls gel like ours do, we're hands down the best team! Plus, we've got the element of surprise on on our side. No one else stands a chance."
Lisanna giggled, turning her head so she could place a short kiss on his lips but he grabbed the back of her head and pulled her in deeper. She kissed him for a moment, before breaking apart to look into his eyes.
"But what if we go out in the first round, Bicks?"
The Sieth shrugged, turning her back around by her shoulders as he rested his chin on the top of her head.
"Then we have a free day to fuck around on Tenrou…" He paused for a moment, and Lisanna could practically hear the cogs turning in his head. "Hey! We could totally…"
"Bickslow." Lisanna interrupted him as soon as she cottoned onto his train of thought. "We are not throwing a fight just so we can fuck in various places on Tenrou. You know very well everyone else is going to be running all over the island."
Bickslow reached up, running his fingertips over her jaw as they made their way to tangle gently in her hair.
"They'll be busy, though. We could…"
"No." Lisanna couldn't bring herself to shake him away, she loved the feeling that it gave her too much.
"You know for a fact that Laxus would electrocute us just for the fun of it if he found us."
Bickslow wrapped his ankles around hers, encompassing her more completely as he kissed the back of her neck.
"Apparently that can be quite pleasurable, though."
Lisanna shook her head, but Bickslow kept his mouth clamped onto her skin.
"No."
Bickslow sighed, resting his forehead against her shoulder for a second before hugging her closer.
"Well then, we'll just need to get through on the first try then, right babe?"
Lisanna giggled, grabbing a hold of his arms and rubbing circles on his forearms. She smiled, relaxing back into his embrace more fully.
"Well, there's always the fact that…"
Before she could finish her sentence Bickslow threw himself backwards, bringing Lisanna with him as they both started tumbling through the air. She screamed as she started to transform her arms into wings, flapping them desperately to slow their descent until they tumbled onto the floor with only the smallest of force. Bickslow laughed maniacally as he pulled her further on top of him, and the babies all span around in excitement.
"Bickslow!"
She spun in his grasp, straddling his thighs as he grabbed onto her hips and let his tongue loll out of his mouth.
"What? You said we had to practice, and that was good practic, right? Anyway, we're not going home until you've completed that obstacle course. Your orders, babe."
"What about Gajeel and Levy? What are we going to do if we come up against them?"
She dodged the fist that came at the side of her head, ducking down before trying to sweep her leg around to take out his legs from underneath him. Bickslow jumped, and her leg swung harmlessly past him. He was wearing sweats and a tank top that showed off his muscles brilliantly under his normal mask while she was wearing just a sports bra and running shorts.
"Why don't you try stripping? That would distract him."
Lisanna growled, lunging forward to grab at him but he simply flipped over her and landed behind her before driving an elbow into her back. Bickslow was fast, but he also had the power to back it up and Lisanna always felt woefully inept when she trained with him. She righted herself again, spinning around to face him.
"That isn't going to work, Bickslow, and you know it. Plus, what about Levy? She's just as formidable an opponent."
Bickslow shrugged, as his totems whirled around the both of them giggling excitedly. Lisanna planted her feet, throwing a punch at Bickslow who just grabbed it out of the air and made her swear in annoyance. The Sieth smirked down at her, grabbing her wrist and pulling it up into the air. She swung with her free hand, but he grabbed that as well and left her almost defenceless.
"Why don't we just… throw them in the sea?"
Lisanna sighed, trying to struggle free of Bickslow's grip before he tugged on her arms, forcing her to stumble into him and wrapping his own arms around her back as he fell backwards, a cloud of dust erupting from the ground as he smashed into the dirt. Lisanna shrieked as she fell on top of him before he turned them both over and pinned her to the ground underneath him. Lisanna looked up into his mask, sighing as she rested her head on the ground. She had to admit the brief rest it gave her was wondrous. Pulling her head up she kissed him gently on his lips, and he returned the favour in kind. After a few minutes he pulled away, and Lisanna was left breathless.
"Bickslow… why aren't you going to use your eyes?"
The Sieth sighed, smile fading as he rolled off her and threw his arms to the side, allowing his babies to rest on the floor around him. When he spoke his voice was weak, more like a child than the man she had gotten to know.
"You don't think I'm strong enough without them."
Lisanna shook her head, rolling over so she could prop herself up on one elbow and look down at him.
"You know I don't mean it like that. But your eyes are a part of your magic, something that makes you you. I'm not saying take everyone over, but just don't be scared to take over one or two in a bind. If you take over Gajeel we could take down Levy together before focusing on him."
Bickslow groaned, throwing an arm over his face so he didn't have to look at her.
"Because as soon as I take someone over they call it cheating. I need to prove to everyone I can do this without relying on my eyes."
He sighed, and they spent a few seconds in silence before he took a deep breath and pushed himself to his feet, turning around to offer her a hand up.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't…"
Lisanna shook her head, dusting off her clothes as she stood up.
"Don't worry about it, I shouldn't have asked."
Bickslow smiled down at her, before she snapped her fist forward, connecting with his abs and making him huff in pain. He groaned, narrowing his eyes as he glared at her. Oh. It was on.
"Well, what if we come up against Laxus?"
Lisanna was relaxing on the sofa in his apartment, legs thrown up onto it despite knowing that Freed would bitch about it as she balanced a pad of paper on her lap. She was tapping a bright pink pen against her chin, glasses perched on her nose as the room was filled with the green glow of Bickslow's magic.
"Well, it's Laxus, so you could…"
"If you say strip I swear I will walk out of this fucking door."
Bickslow groaned, sweat starting to roll down his forehead as he concentrated. Ten totems were floating around him, his standard five floating around like normal as the other five made stalling movements up, down, left and right. His arms were thrown out to the side, eye magic going insane as his concentration lay somewhere else.
"Well, I don't do fucking planning, alright? Have you not figured that out yet Lisanna?"
Lisanna looked up at him as his effort failed, and five wooden souls fell empty onto the floor as she felt the souls he had taken from her fly back into her body.
"I can't fucking do this. They won't fucking listen to me."
He flopped to the floor like a rag doll, chest heaving in exhaustion. Lisanna stood up from the sofa, keeping her glasses on for an added sense of security as she knelt next to him and started to comb her fingers through his hair.
"I told you, they're not only animal souls but they're incomplete. The fact you can control them at all is amazing."
Bickslow threw both of his arms over his eyes as he groaned loudly, not sure he even wanted to do this anymore. Lisanna lay down next to him, snuggling up to his side and resting her head on his collarbone.
"I have an idea. I don't know how well it will work, but it might do. Other than that, we can just wing it and see what happens. What do you think?"
Bickslow nodded, turning onto his side and gathering her up in his arms. He kissed the top of her head and Lisanna nuzzled into his chest.
"Good. Tomorrow morning we're going off on an adventure, so let's get an early night, yeah?"
A/N - I have had a lot of people letting me know that Lisanna shouldn't have been chosen to take part, hopefully this assuages some of those fears and gives a little background as to why she is in there!
Thank you so much everyone for your reviews! We definitely don't discuss them while squealing in excitement.
Just a reminder, I am writing this with Gajeelswoman. She's uploading the story on her page too ( doesn't have a collaborate option) and you should definitely check out her other work!