I breathed in the summer air, magic filling my nose as I began entering the campus of Fairy Tail. The scene was constant; the fire dragon slayer— Natsu Dragneel— and the ice mage— Gray Fullbuster— fighting over something very minor. I liked the feeling as this was my everyday routine. I didn't always have to return to the guild every day, I could be shopping for brand new clothes; but I yearned for this friendship... this family-like bond that we have at the guild.
"Hey Lucy!" Erza, the powerful female mage, greeted me as I sat at the bar. I didn't need to order my usual strawberry milkshake, as Mira was already stirring up my unspoken order.
"How's it going? Besides having to constantly stop Natsu and Gray from fighting." I asked, smiling lightly. I knew it was a bit tiring dealing with idiots like those two, who choose to act like children all the time.
"We were thinking of going on another mission, except the split between money wasn't going to be equal. That's what ignited the fight between them. So I'm going by myself."
I nodded, thereafter receiving my milkshake. I happily sipped my drink after thanking Mira for the drink I could practically call 'heaven'. The day proceeded as normal until the door cracked open. It felt so cliché seeing the door slowly opening, only revealing a bright white light flashing within the crack of the door. I could tell that the members of Fairy Tail were curious of who was entering our guild.
"What the—" Natsu stopped mid-sentence. I had seen from afar that he recognized the person immediately. She walked inside, her short white hair softly settled onto her neck and a slight smile appeared on her face.
He ran over to the girl, picking her up joyfully into a hug. Mira smiled to herself,
"Natsu and my little sister, Lisanna, were friends since their childhood. Ever since we came back from Edolas, it had appeared that Lisanna had been 'trapped' there and her intentions was to escape. We wanted to surprise Natsu."
Everyone began to cheer, the scene which had unfolded in front of us was heartwarming. It even brought Elfman to tears, even though the news was broken to him a long time ago. The guild threw a party— the third one in the span of two days— everyone had drinks in hand and every occupant of Fairy Tail were ready to fight. I felt it was necessary not to get involved, so I stayed with Mira and talked about our usual chat.
Wendy and her exceed, Carla, walked toward the bar and took seat beside me. They seemed confused, less than I was since I took information from the moment of when it happened.
"Lucy, who is Lisanna?" Wendy asked, twirling herself in the bar chair.
"She was one of Natsu's childhood friend. She seems very nice since she's Mira's little sister, so why don't you go introduce yourself?" I smiled, motioning her toward the girl who was receiving a lot of attention. It seemed necessary to become familiar with someone who was going to become a regular, but I wanted to wait until later to when my first impression will be remembered.
"Okay!" she cheerfully smiled, as she skipped away with Carla.
After a few hours, many of us were drunk. Cana was still challenging others to out-drink her, but it was obvious; no one can do it. I decided to take a walk, it was already 1:00 p.m., and all I had been doing was talking with my friend circle, plus Lisanna.
I felt relief walking out of the guild, Magnolia refreshed my sense of thought with its slight breeze which brushed against my face. I walked through the street shops that were selling items I've always wanted when I was a kid. I was tempted to buy everything there but I had to pay rent very soon, we all know my landlord will be very disappointed if I cannot pay... again.
"Excuse me!" A brown exceed who sported only a brown vest, screamed at me. His small paws tugged on my shoe lace, tears were dripping off of individual hairs from his cheek.
"I lost my best friend. Please help, it's been long!"
I smiled, looking down at the cat exceed and ruffling his head, "I'll help you, don't worry! So what's your friend's name?"
"Sting Eucliffe" he proudly stated, as if he was advertising him out to the world. I immediately knew who he was talking about. The egocentric butthead from the Sabertooth guild who had lost to us in the Grand Magic Games. They used to be dangerous until the Master of the guild disappeared and Sting was accounted as the Master, from then, they seemed to have more of a family bond, rather than being an enemy group.
I decided to help the cat, I mean, if Happy or Carla or even Pantherlily were lost, I would help find their owner because they can be easily missed by the average eye. I was looking for Sting as we walked aimlessly through Magnolia. It felt like hours as we spent time combing through each and every crowd to find one individual person. The cat told me his name was 'Lector', a fitting name for such a tough looking exceed. He proceeded to tell me about many of the memories they've created together, such as, Lector temporarily 'dying', his frog friend losing his sense of direction. The stories were interesting, I couldn't help but laugh when Lector over-exaggerated about some of the stories he was telling.
"LECTOR!" A strong voice had yelled from the back of us, we turned around quickly, Lector was in my hands since I was carrying him. He looked up at me as a signal to set him down. Sting ran up to Lector like he hasn't seen him for years, it was heartwarming.
"She helped me find you, Sting!" Lector exclaimed, pointing up at me. I awkwardly scratched the back of my neck, I barely knew the guy so I didn't know how to react. Sting got up from embracing Lector and walked toward me, hugging me as a 'thanks'. I couldn't do anything, it was unexpected and I didn't want to punch him in front of Lector. The hug didn't last long though.
"Thank you," He stopped mid-sentence, moving his hand in circular motions as if signaling me to say my name.
"Lucy. Lucy Heartfilia," I stuck my hand out for a handshake and he gladly took his hand in mine. It felt awkward because our finger placement caused it to be very uncomfortable, but a smile still found its way onto my face.
"Sting E-"
"I know." He stared at me as if I was crazy, but I reassured him that I was most definitely not. I then explained what Lector told me and how I knew him from the Grand Magic Games. He nodded, having a moment of where he remembered what he had done. I didn't want him to apologize because it wasn't his direct fault for acting upon those actions so I changed the topic,
"So, what are you doing here?"
"Rogue and I had a mission to attend. Turns out a lady didn't have monsters in her house, she just wanted help on moving furniture. We decided to rest here because it was closest to us anyway." He answered, playing around with Lector, "We were supposed to meet at Central Park, but we got lost in the middle of a race."
I nodded my head, we had been walking long enough to where we reached the smaller park of the community.
"You're nicer than I thought," I told him, as we mounted ourselves onto individual swings. We began swinging, as Lector played with a butterfly. I chuckled at him.
"Did you expect me to be some asshole?" He asked with hesitation, rubbing his head as if he was embarrassed. I didn't want to answer because he seemed annoyed at the fact that I said that out of nowhere, but I nodded. We shared a small laugh together. We enjoyed each other's company, our actions speaking louder than words. I felt okay around him, like he was my best friend since forever.
"Well, Lector and I are going to our hotel now, I can't believe it's already 6:30 p.m. Do you want to hang out again tomorrow? We still have to help her move her stupid furniture so it'd be nice to steam off with a nice conversation with you." He asked, getting up with Lector. He dusted the back of his sweatpants before looking up at me for an immediate answer. I thought about it for quite a bit, teasing Sting with anticipation.
"...Sure!" I smiled, laughing with Sting as he exclaims that he thought I was going to reject his friendly offer.
"Maybe we should meet here again?" He asked before running off with Lector, they shared a quick fist-bump before disappearing into the crowd of people trying to get home. I decided to make my way back to the guild, figuring that things should be a bit calmer than overwhelming there at this time. I entered through the double doors, making my way toward the small group which consisted of Gajeel, Gray, Levy, Mira, and Wendy. They politely smiled at me as I took a seat next to my best friend, Levy.
"Lucy, I don't know if you've noticed, but your scent is very different," Gajeel changed the topic from what they were talking about toward me. I quickly grabbed my shirt, attempting to smell my scent, but I couldn't. It took some time until Levy, Mira, and Wendy started jumping up and down as if I had big news, Gray and Gajeel shared a small smirk; yet I couldn't understand why.
"Tell us the details, girl!" Levy patted my shoulder, as they pushed away Gajeel and Gray, who did seem a bit curious about my situation. It had hit me, from the scent I smell like, they're thinking my time was occupied with a special boy. I kept my mouth shut, everyone in our group trying to poke information out of me, but I refused to tell something that wasn't that big of a deal.
"Look!" Wendy pointed at the T.V., reverting everyone's attention from me to a large screen. The 'Magic Today' news channel was playing proudly on the screen, sporting a bottom line which said,
"Lucy Heartfilia, Celestial Mage, possibly dating a lucky fellow!"
Two pictures rolled onto the screen, the first one was where Sting was hugging me from when Lector and him reunited. I admit, I didn't look half bad in the picture, but I look so bloated. Why did they have to use that photo? The second photo was of us on the swings, talking about ourselves to each other like there was no tomorrow.
I put my hand on my forehead, sighing,
"Stupid news reporters..."
"Hold on," Natsu scoffed, inching toward the television. Sweat dripped from my forehead, knowing he was going to recognize who he was. I didn't want drama, but with Natsu overreacting like this, the news was going to have something more to feed on.
"Is that... Sting Eucliffe?" Hatred spewed through his mouth, his hands were already engulfed in flames. I was worried about Sting already and I had just met him.
Levy and Mira looked at me, still smirking as if I was actually dating Sting. I secretly rolled my eyes before seeing Gajeel and Gray pinning Natsu down so he doesn't do anything idiotic, yet it seemed that they couldn't stand the heat as they mouthed to me,
"Run!"