1: Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge
Lucy Heartfilia carefully watched the little expression her best friend Levy McGarden would make as she read what was typed out on the laptop.
She winced whenever Levy frowned. She sat up straight whenever Levy's eyebrows furrowed. She smiled whenever the corners of Levy's lips curled up into a small smile. Whenever Levy sighed, which was often, she found herself standing on edge, prepared for battle.
Lucy was sitting on top of Levy's bed in Levy's bedroom. It was common for her to come over to Levy's house straight after school and stay there until it grew dark. At this point, Levy's parents considered Lucy as a member of their family.
Their still had their school uniforms on but the collars were unbutton in order to give themselves comfort. Levy sat on the yellow beanbag chair on the floor while Lucy was laying on the bed holding a white fuzzy heart-shaped pillow. Lucy found herself treating the pillow as a large stress ball as time went by.
Eventually, Levy looked up.
"So...? What did you think...?" Lucy asked eagerly.
Levy lightly drummed her fingers against the rose pink case of the laptop. "...well..."
Lucy sat up with the pillow still in her arms. "Be honest."
Levy sighed for the one millionth time and carefully placed the laptop onto the ground. "Are Aries and Loki even in love with each other?"
Lucy blinked. Then, she nodded. "Yeah."
"It doesn't seem that way," Levy said.
"How?" Lucy asked, moving a piece of her wavy blonde hair behind her ear.
"I know that Loki is supposed to be this huge flirt or whatever but if he truly loved Aries, he'd be giving her the most attention out of everyone. And he'd be doing the little things for her. Meanwhile, if Aries truly loved Loki, she wouldn't just simply settle for his player ways. Like, who would be okay with that?" Levy explained.
"But that's how people really are. You know Gray Fullbuster? He's a huge flirt but everyone seems to be okay with it," Lucy said, bringing up her other friend and classmate.
"Yeah, but Gray doesn't like any of those girls and those girls who claim they like him only like him physically. There's no love brewing," Levy answered.
Lucy scratched her head in confusion.
"Oh, my poor, poor, don't-know-jack-shit-about-love friend. Why are you even trying to write a romance novel when you can't even tell the difference between emotional attraction and physical attraction?" Levy asked as she handed Lucy the laptop.
"Because if you notice in almost every novel, there's some sort of romance, whether people want to believe it or not. Sometimes, it's the wholesome type. Other times, it's just kinda there. People like romance and romance novels become big fast. By graduation, I want to have published a bestselling romance novel and I don't want it to be the trashy type," Lucy answered, grabbing the laptop.
Written in 99 pages on Google Doc is the romance novel she was writing, Signs of Sparks. Sometimes, she sends the new portions to Levy, her self-proclaimed editor. Most of the time, she shows Levy the new portions whenever she's over. With Levy presiding over the story, the characters of Aries and Loki have changed so much along with the premise to the point that she wasn't even sure herself what was happening plot-wise. But she knew she had to throw in some romance.
"Hmmm...maybe it's because you've never been in a relationship. That's probably why you're struggling," Levy said.
Lucy closed the laptop. "Could that be it?"
"I think that could be it," Levy answered as she got up from the beanbag chair. "You get love confessions almost every day. Just date one of your many admirers and learn about love from them."
"But I don't have feelings for any of them," Lucy answered.
"I know," Levy simply responded.
Lucy furrowed her eyebrows. "Wouldn't that be me technically playing with their feelings?"
Levy rubbed the back of her neck. "...I mean...well..."
Suddenly, they heard something tap against the window.
Levy groaned. That was enough of a sign for Lucy to know that it was time for her to leave.
As Lucy packed her school bag, Levy stomped over to the window and threw the curtains open. There was her boyfriend Gajeel Redfox on the other side, holding onto the windowsill for dear life.
"Let me in!" His muffled voice yelled through the glass of the window.
Levy placed her hands on her hips. "Why should I?"
"Baby, please!" Gajeel begged.
"Don't call me baby!" Levy yelled.
Lucy didn't have much things out so she was all packed and ready to go fairly quickly. "Levy, I'm off!"
Unfortunately, Levy didn't hear Lucy as she bickered with Gajeel through the window.
Lucy took one last look at her best friend before she walked out of the room. She didn't see Gajeel hanging on the windowsill when she went outside. Levy must've let him in.
Gajeel and Levy are always arguing yet they're still a couple, Lucy thought to herself as she wandered around the nighttime streets.
The city lights were outshining the stars as the streets bustled with people living their own stories. There were students who were leaving cram schools and internet cafes. Adults with business attire were getting into and out of taxis and buses or were simply decorating the streets along with the students. Families were walking in and out of the opened businesses that lined the streets. Couples were holding hands as they strolled together, lost in their own world.
Lucy stopped walking to study a couple standing at a crosswalk, waiting for the light to change in order to crossed the street. One hand was in the other as they whispered and giggled with each other. Then, suddenly they started making out as if their lives depended on it.
Lucy tilted her head as she shamelessly watched the scene. Is kissing truly that good that you need to suck each other's faces off? Do you truly love each other that much that you need to stick your tounges down each other's throats? I really don't get it?
She was forced to look away when a bad feeling suddenly rushed over her. She turned away from the couple and went the opposite way. Then, she broke into a clean sprint. When she did, hooded figures that were following her from a distance ran after her.
People who were minding their business were forced to move out of the way as Lucy and the hooded figures ran by. They watched them for a bit before they went on with their business. It's the city. People get chased all the time. The key is to mind your own damn business.
Damn city folk! Lucy bitterly thought and she ran down the stairs leading to the subway underground. The hooded figures followed.
The subway was even more crowded as people were rushing to get from point A to point B. This worked to Lucy's advantage. She mixed in with the crowd as she quickly bought a train ticket. Every few seconds, she frantically looked behind her to see if the figures could see her. Once the ticket was in hand, she cut through the crowd in order to make it to the next train.
Unfortunately for her, she came a second too late.
Many people like her were running to catch the next train and some even resorted to pushing others out of the way. By the time Lucy made it to the train, it was already full and the doors were starting to close.
"Fuck!" She yelled, picking up her speed that was rapidly dwindling.
Then, unexpectedly, a boy with pink hair aboard the train used his leg to hold open the sliding doors and held his hand out for her. "You can make it!"
Lucy was thrown off by the act of kindness that she even stopped running. Then, she shook her head and started running towards the boy.
Once she was close enough, she took his hand and he pulled her into the train. At the same time, his leg left the doorway and the doors slid close behind them.
Lucy stumbled into his chest with her hand still holding onto the pink-haired boy's hand. Immediately, she felt a sense of warmth the closer she was to the boy as if he was a walking fireplace. The idea of separating from him only made her cold. So, she closed her eyes and nuzzled closer.
Girl, what are you doing!?
Lucy quickly let go of the boy and attempted to separate from him. The train car was crowded, though, so she could only go so far.
She looked down and rubbed her arm. "...um, thanks."
The boy smiled. "Of course!"
The train arrived at the next stop. Some people came off. Some people came on. Then, it moved on.
Lucy and the boy stayed where they were.
Five stops later, the people who were originally on the train with Lucy and the boy were gone. There were more people getting off of the stops and less getting on. By the 7th stop, Lucy and the boy were the only ones left on the train.
Lucy couldn't help but glance at the boy standing next to her. He looked to be around her age. He was taller than her and looked fit. He could be an athlete. He wore sweatpants and a hoodie but somehow, they looked like stylish street fashion on him. There was a mischievous glint in his dark eyes that she had a feeling was permanent. He looked relaxed as he stared at the subway doors and listened to music from his wired earbuds. For some reason, he looked familiar to her but she couldn't place her finger on where she had seen him before.
The pupils of his sharp eyes moved from the doors to Lucy, prompting her to quickly look away.
She felt something lightly tap her shoulder. She looked next to her and saw that the boy was holding an earbud to her.
She stared blankly at the earbud before she looked up at him with the same blank expression.
"You were staring at me. It's because you wanted to listen to my music, right?" The boy asked.
Lucy blinked. "Huh?"
"I'm really good at reading people's intentions," the boy answered.
Who lied to you? You clearly can't read people's intentions! Why would I want to listen to a stranger's music!? She thought before taking the earbud anyway.
Nothing was said between them as they listened to the music. Every now and then, Lucy would quickly glance at the boy, wondering why he was still on the train. At times, she'd open her mouth to ask the question but then she'd stop herself. It was none of her business.
At the 13th stop, Lucy decided that it was time for her to get off the train.
"Here," she told the boy as she handed him his earbud. "You have good music taste."
He smiled in return.
Lucy got off of the train and was about to walk away when she realized that the boy wasn't next to her. She turned around and saw that he was still standing in the train with his earbuds in and his hands buried into his pockets.
"You're not getting off?" She asked him as the door slid close between them.
Then, the train with the boy still on it sped away.
Lucy hid her hands behind her back as she stared at the empty subway train tracks. "I wonder where he's off to?"
Behind her, she heard a few sets of shoes click against the concrete. She turned around and groaned loudly. The hooded figures along with a couple more hooded figures were now surrounding her.
She groaned loudly again as she turned back around. Across the tracks was another subway platform. All she had to do was run towards it and make sure a train doesn't hit her. Bonus points, a train would come out of nowhere and it the people chasing her.
Her plan was put into action.
Lucy started running and she was in the middle of the track when one of the hooded figures quickly caught up to her and grabbed her from behind, muffling her mouth in the process. She kicked and screamed as the figure dragged her back to the group of the others in hoodies. Then, with more of them holding onto her, they dragged her up the stairs of the subway into the fresh air of the nighttime city above.
Parked on the side of the street was a black van and the figured threw her in. One of the figures pulled out his phone and spoke to the person on the other line. "Yes, boss. We've caught her."
Random fact: The title of this chapter is the title of the Bollywood movie Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. I couldn't think of a good chapter name so I looked through the story to find specific scenes to name the chapter after. The scene where the boy helps Lucy get onto the train was inspired by that iconic train scene in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge where Shah Rukh Khan's character helps Kajol's character onto the train so I was like "fuck it" and named the chapter after that movie. Y'all should watch it! It's a Bollywoon classic!
Wassup!? It's ya gurl sugarsugarrush!
I've written 3 stories for Fairy Tail and out of those three, only one has been finished. I promise I'll finish the other two. If you're interested in them, check my profile. Anyways, this story will be my 4th Fairy Tail story. It came to me out of the blue when my friends and I were walking back from our city's annual spring fair late at night but we couldn't find our car so we were walking around aimlessly in the dark. We started joking about the possibility of us getting snatched, especially when we started seeing gangster gathering together. Ahhh, dark humor. Don't worry. I'm safe. If I wasn't, how would I be writing this? Besides, this happened 6 months ago.
Anyways, I was planning on using this event in this story and in many drafts, I did. But eventually, I scrapped the idea, giving y'all the work y'all are seeing now. I've had this idea for about 6 months now but within these 6 months, it's gone through so many versions. I think this current version is going to stay. It's highly inspired by the anime/manga HoriMiya and the 2001 movie My Sassy Girl.
Don't forget to PM me or leave me some reviews! I really hope y'all like this!
