The Dragneel Affair | NaLu

Chapter 15 - Welcome To Russia

It had taken two weeks to leave the empire. Austria was gone. Now it was March and Lucy stood in awe as the foreign world of Russia was laid out in front of her. It had been an easy two weeks, the group had decided to disguise themselves as normal citizens, their uniforms were stuffed into their knapsacks. They stayed out of battles they didn't need to get involved in.

News had been spread all over Russia of the royal sharp shooter, Lucy Heartfilia. Stories went around how she would take down groups of the French and give their goods to the poor and homeless. She was praised. But that wasn't entirely true.

It was the best the end of February, a French troop had spotted the Russians and attacked. Lucy and Erza shot four soldiers down within two minutes. The rest pulled out their sword and fought. Every French soldier was killed, except for one. When he was knocked off of his horse, his hat had fallen off and revealed long, curly blue hair. He was a she. Gray had spared her life. "I can't harm a woman," he said. The soldier sheepishly thanked him. She was quite and was able to speak a little Russian.

"J-Juvia thanks you," she said. She rambled about how she hoped we wouldn't harm her in any way. She was quite cute, in her own, weird way.

"We wouldn't dream of hurting you," Makarov assured her. "But, we can't leave you here." She rode on Gray's horse for the rest of the night, watching him closely. Jellal spoke to her in French, occasionally. Lucy had taken some of the belongings of the soldier, like food and blankets, and gave it to a small village that morning.

Jellal translated Juvia's story about becoming a soldier. Her fiancé had joined the army before the war began and trained her. While he was gone, he had met another woman and cut off the engagement. He was killed in battle not long after he had told her. "She says she joined because she had nothing else. She hid her gender from her troop and fought the Austrians, waiting for death," Jellal explained. Juvia spoke in what little Russian she knew.

"Juvia has been with men so long, she misses the company of a woman. Juvia misses dresses and dancing," she admitted. Lucy and Erza smirked at each other. They took off their hats and removed the ribbons holding up their hair. Juvia smiled brightly as Lucy told her about her and Erza's situations. Being rich, she knew French. Most young, rich women learn French.

"Juvia cannot believe their's someone doing the same thing!" She exclaimed. Lucy nodded.

"We are headed to Russia, if you have nothing back in France, would you like to come with?" Lucy asked. Juvia nodded and hugged her tightly.

"Yes, Juvia would!"

• • •

Now Lucy and Juvia starred in awe at St. Basil's cathedral. It was a first for the two, possibly a one hundredth for the others. "It's beautiful," Lucy exclaimed. She was amazed at the multicolored building and the people who walked past her. Some were dressed in traditional clothing and heavy coats, others were dressed in clothing that was popular in Western Europe, possibly the higher class.

"Are we done traveling?" Juvia asked Gray. He shook his head and chuckled.

"No, you two can stay here if you want. But we have to go to St. Petersburg," he informed her. "But we'll stay here for tonight." Lucy smiled widely and turned to Natsu, who was staring at a wall covered in papers.

"Natsu, will you take me sight seeing?" She asked him. He blinked as he came out of his daze and watched her blankly.

"What?"

"Will you show me around city?" She asked. Natsu smiled and nodded.

"Yes, of course." Erza pulled her to the side, she wanted to take Lucy to her favorite cake shop. Natsu watched her walk away and walked towards the poster covered wall. There were at least 15 wanted posters for his father.

Igneel Dragneel has returned!!
Wanted dead or alive!
Reward; 5,800 Rubels

He tore a poster off the wall and walked back to the group. The girls had left the cake shop with a bag of tea cakes.

• (I suggest watching the video before reading this part. . . (it's been like a year since I finished the story and I realized I never actually ADDED the video so it's there now, sorry))•

That night, everyone was seated in the living room of Makarov's grandson, Laxus Dreyer. He was pretty reluctant on letting everyone stay in his home, but after Makarov asked him humiliating questions such as; "you have a girl in there? No?", he let everyone in. Makarov left the house about an hour after everyone had settled in and returned just in time to see the boys have a drinking contest. He brought the girls dresses, much to Juvia's excitement.

Now, everyone was laughing in the living room, surrounded by wooden walls and warm candles. Gajeel found a guitar leaning up against the corner and asked Laxus if he could play.

"I don't know if you could, but you can try," he said. Gajeel rolled his eyes and took the guitar. He strummed it for a moment to get a feel for it. Loke asked him to play a song, Lucy couldn't hear the title of it. Gajeel nodded and started playing. Everyone was silent for a moment, wanting to hear the instrument first. Then, gradually, everyone was singing. They sand through it once and then, on Gray's request, it was played again. Everyone clapped along with the beat and sang, completely out of tune. Juvia listened blankly, not being able to understand the words.

Lucy could feel something flow through her. It was something about the music. She'd never heard anything like this before. No one was a professional, no one was trained to sing this. It was something they had inside them and knew what to do. She stood up and stepped into the middle of the room, slightly stomping her foot against the rug on the ground. She turned to Natsu, silently asking if she could do this. Whatever she was going to do. He gave her a small smile and nodded. She held her arms up and spun around the room, going past everyone in it. She held her dress up with her hands, exposing her feet. She danced around the room as the song went faster.

"How does she know what to do?" Juvia asked. Natsu shrugged, he was smiling and clapping as he watched the blonde in front of him dance to the folk music.

"It's in the blood, maybe," he told her.

The song finished, leaving Lucy breathless. Everyone clapped as she held her arms up in the air and bowed. As Gajeel started another song, Natsu took Lucy's hand and stood next to her.

"You think you can dance to this?" he asked. The song started high and fast. And Lucy felt her heart race again as Natsu spun her around the room.

• • •

Author's Note;

I WASNT SUPPOSED TO UPDATE SO SOON BUT HERE WE ARE!!! *shrugs* I had a ninety minute study hall today and I ended up writing this.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I will still try to get chapter 16 up on Tuesday!!

Until I write again,

~ Lucy