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happyvoidharmony · 5 months

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Missteps.2 (First Day)

Found : FF.net AO3

“Well, that was a day wasted.” Gajeel only whined some more as he fell onto his bed.

Indeed, the very first day of the Games had proved itself to be rather unsuccessful. Even with two members competing, none of them had managed to beat any other team and the results felt more depressing than anything.

“I thought it was really fun.” Mirajane cheered with a sweet voice while she went for hers. “Everyone looks so talented, the games are everything but easy.” She still trembled a little bit when she caught the thunder mage’s disapproving glare as he fell onto his own bed. “Everyone did his best.”

She couldn’t help but to send a worried gaze to the water mage that hadn’t said a word since the day had ended, seeming quite empty-looking as she absentmindedly brushed her hair. Surely their defeat was much harder to swallow for her than for any of them. If only Gajeel could gather his two remaining neurons to gain some awareness and stop talking about their upcoming strategy to regain the points they had missed today.

She wished she had a pan to slam onto his head.

“How many times do I have to say I’m sorry ?” Jellal elevated his voice a bit to the incessant rants of their teammate.

Mirajane only sighed.

“How about as many times as it takes for you to go kick your guildmates’ sorry asses for what they did to us ?”

That was a good thought. If only he hadn’t yelled it.

“It’s not their fault.” Jellal sighed in turn, resting his eyes as his head was beginning to hurt. “They were only trying to keep me from revealing my true identity by beating Jura.”

She heard the blonde grunt then, even if that one went ignored as the two men continued their insufferably cute bickering. She looked at him, but he only glanced in her direction, still ignoring her as he did since the day before. It was her turn to grunt.

“What the hell do we need you for, if you can’t even use your real magic to win ?” The volume went up as the former mage saint only whined in desperation.

Even Juvia seemed to look up, also quite triggered by the dragon slayer’s unwillingness to let the subject go.

“It’s not my fault if they put me up against the only mage I couldn’t beat without it !”

The poor Jellal seemed also desperate to prove his innocence.

Mirajane sighed again, more loudly this time, so maybe the mood would lighten up and stop being so aggressive. But they still went on nonetheless.

“Maybe we should have sent thunder jerk over here, if only it wasn’t for that stupid rule.”

He grunted at that one again, more like snarked. So loud that it almost startled her, but again, their beds were only a few feet apart. She weirdly couldn’t tell if it was supposed to be an agreeing kind of grunt, with the fact that he would have been more competent to beat the mage saint, or a downright protest to being called a jerk. But with his eyes still glued to what seemed to be the rule book of the games this time, nobody could really tell.

If only they could finally stop yelling. With the selection trials during the night and the day-long games, she hadn’t slept quite enough, and the incessant ranting was making her headache even stronger.

“The last day will probably include another fight against him.”

She seemed to be the last one taken aback by the blonde’s sudden affirmation, as every one of them suddenly fell silent. Thank God, a bit of silence.

“They wouldn’t have wasted their strongest contestant on the first day.” He didn’t seem to notice because his eyes stayed faithful to the words he was currently reading. “So, they’ve probably planned a big finale with him for the end of the games.”

The absence of reply finally had him look up at them all staring back quiet. He frowned but the silence was soon broken again by Gajeel.

“Ladies and gentlemen, he can speak.”

She wished she could have refrained the loud chuckle that immediately came out of her mouth. To his great dismay as she seemed to be followed by Juvia, who finally cracked a smile of laughter, Gajeel, who seemed to enjoy laughing at his own jokes, and the stellar mage as well, so much that it quickly ended in all four of them just trying to keep the giggles in as the thunder mage only stared in desperation, wondering how long they could go on before he could fry them all for their impertinence.

Against all odds, she was the first to regain composure.

“Well, that actually kind of makes sense.” That seemed to calm the others and finally reduce Gajeel to silence as he sighed and fell back onto his bed, still getting cold sweat from the shut-up stare Laxus had been shooting him for a good 2 minutes.

And then the door opened.

“What are you all doing, looking like you’ve just been to a funeral ?” Cana suddenly yelled as they all turned to face her. “There’s a party down there !”

There was a slight pause where everyone seemed to gather their thoughts.

“Sorry, we didn’t have the greatest of day.” Gajeel only snarked against her accusing stare and the bottle she was holding in her right hand.

“Well it’s no use wallowing about it.” She only replied.” Come on, everyone’s downstairs !” She dragged Juvia to the door as the others only sighed in resignation and gathered their things to join. “I bet Natsu a hundred bucks he can’t surf on barrel and that’s just going to be hilarious !”

“Do you have enough alcohol to make every memory of the day magically disappear !” Jellal only asked as he followed, making sure to grab his hat and mask with him.

Unsurprisingly, that last question seemed to brighten the card mage’s day as her face illuminated with the shiniest smile.

“I certainly do, come on, I’ll make you forget everything.” She only patted on his shoulder while glancing back at the demon mage. “You’re coming ?” The demon mage only smiled, debating whether it was a good idea to get very drunk with the games continuing the day after, and let’s not forget the thunder mage’s presence right beside as he bumped into her shoulders before looking back at her to raise his eyebrows.

Are you coming ?

Maybe she just had to fill the blanks herself to hear him speak for now.

Although, the hand on her thigh was soon going to speak louder than words. Or maybe he was drunk. That was highly possible as they had been drinking for a few hours now. Drinking, and chatting, and laughing, mostly on her part. Not with each other though, but her siblings had been quite adamant about sitting at the Thunder Legion’s table, so they had found themselves shoved up next to each other quite quickly. Which was fine. Not nerve-wracking at all.

“Don’t you think it’s kind of masturbatory to have an entire guild of men ?” Evergreen continued to rant.

She didn’t know how much he had to drink. At least as much as her, so, a lot. She hadn’t counted, but the fact that she couldn’t tell the exact number was already a sign that she shouldn’t get up for some while, unless she wanted to fall straight on her face. She was already acting stupid, giggling like an idiot at everyone’s joke, even the really unfunny ones. He didn’t speak much, but it was still a lot more than before, trying to reply from his corner with at least a facial expression to every remark one of his friends made with the most expectant stare.

“Hey ! why is it weird to have a guild of men but not also for the whole guild of women ?” Evergreen only shrugged to the seith’s remark.

It was cute, the way they gazed, waiting for a reaction, like puppies waiting for their treat.

“Well, at least the women don’t spend their time screaming about being manly.” The fairy mage went on.

And kind of odd.

“What’s wrong about being manly ?” Her brother whined.

But cute.

“Nothing, Elf-nii-chan, she’s just trying to spite you.” Her sister patted him on the shoulder, sending annoyed frowns to the woman, who only shrugged some more.

She did love puppies.

“I think it rather makes sense.” The rune mage tried to refocus the conversation. “To keep one focused on the task at hand.” Bickslow only rolled his eyes out.

If it wasn’t for the hand, one could have thought that he was totally ignoring her presence. Well, he did look at her when she talked, but he never replied, not that she ever talked to him directly. But then, there had been his foot, or maybe it had been hers first, but he didn’t pull away nonetheless. Not when she touched it, and not even when she cluelessly left it there. But his absence of reaction was total, for a while at least. She knew his poker face was good, but even his eyebrow, which she knew to be his tell, didn’t make the slightest movement. One could only imagine the disappointment she felt.

“Don’t you think men need more help getting focused, Ever ?” Bickslow snarked, but he looked at Laxus when he spoke, with his annoying grin.

So cute.

“Well, if you say it like that.” Evergreen tried to shut him down by ordering another round.

But then, his foot had moved, not away, but against her. And the rush of adrenaline was just embarrassing. She could feel the red rushing to her cheeks, but at least she could pretend it was the tequila they had just ordered, pretend she had forgotten how much that liquid burnt one’s throat, pretend a whole lot of indecent thoughts hadn’t just rushed up to her brain.

“Well, I don’t know if I prefer the sound of that.” Her sister tried to intervene.

Was every hotel room really booked ? Or was that just a saying during the Games ?

“Of course you don’t, you have sense.” Bickslow approved, but only to spite the fairy mage. “Why do you think Laxus ? Did you ever have a hard time focusing ?”

The thunder mage only shrugged, looking back at his glass.

“Not really.” He mumbled.

She retained herself from snarking back, very badly that is to say.

But then he looked.

Right at her. Right at the moment she had gazed upon him.

And nobody seemed to notice because they had gone back to their little conversation, while his eyes stayed on hers for what felt to be so long, she had to send worried gazes around just to make sure nobody had caught that. Because they would know, instantly, everything. If not by the hot look his dark eyes had just sent straight to her stomach, making it crawl back on itself, by the way the heat had replaced her face. And she knew she was red as a poppy because she could swear he had that knowing smirk on the corner of his mouth.

“What about you, Mirajane, did you ever have trouble focusing ?” Freed asked, but it took her a whole second to understand he was addressing her.

Her unawareness made them laugh. So she giggled too, and reddened a bit. Nobody seemed to notice she had been looking at him though.

“Are you okay, Mira-nee ?” Her sister tried to help. “You look tired.”

And now, he was fully smirking, and sending those annoying glances at her. And she wanted to slam his face into that glass of his.

“Maybe we should go to bed, it is going to be a long day tomorrow.” Her brother tried too.

If only they didn’t keep her stomach in the most unnatural position.

“It’s not that late, though.” Evergreen shut his idea down, the remark did annoy him, but he rapidly refocused on his older sister.

Maybe she should go to sleep, before she drank more and stopped being able to hide the embarrassing turmoil going on inside her.

“Especially when one of you might fight tomorrow.” Freed tried to help, and even Bickslow shrugged in understanding.

But then, there was his hand, sliding up and down her thigh, so lightly it almost tickled her. And she almost jumped up, if all the stares hadn’t been on her at that exact moment.

“I’m fine.” She giggled, shutting the whole thing so quickly they changed the entire topic.

God, he was probably laughing his ass off inside right now. Especially after the infuriated glare she had just sent him. If only he didn’t look so damn sexy.

“Why does it always have to be about dirty things with you ?” Evergreen only snapped at Bickslow, while she saw her siblings redden and the seith mage explode in laughter.

She had missed something. The dragon slayer proved to be useless as he looked just as clueless as she was when she glanced at him for help.

Obviously, she wasn’t the only one having problems focusing.

Because she knew he was struggling to understand Bickslow when he repeated the joke again to gain his approval. Or maybe that was the way her foot had slowly slid up his tibia. She saw him gulp, and glance, ever so quickly in her direction, just as much annoyed. And his hand had suddenly gripped her thigh so strongly, she actually jumped a bit. Not that it could stop her from playing with the edge of his jeans with her toes.

“Don’t be gross.” Freed shut Bickslow down, before Laxus even had a chance to collect his thoughts.

Revenge was indeed sweet.

She knew she shouldn’t have had so much to drink. Now her legs were wobbly, and she couldn’t quite see straight. How the hell did she even drink that much ? She didn’t even remember ordering two glasses, but between the Cana’s orders in the beginning, the Thunder Legion’s orders in the middle, or the weird glasses that kept getting in front of her in the end, it was no wonder why she lost count. But now, she had to go to sleep and when she woke up, she would have to go through the whole day and possibly fight with the worst hangover ever.

Not that she never fought with a hangover, but still.

She was going to go to bed, after successfully dropping Cana on her bed with Erza’s help. The brunette was a mess after her drinking contest against Bacchus. She tried to ignore the disapproving stares the woman sent her, only rolling her eyes out with her wobbly hands and confused eyes as they tucked her into bed. Of course she would disapprove the whole drinking thing. After all, they were on a job to get the guild back on top, there was place for failure, and certainly no place for excesses.

If only her own hand didn’t shake as she tried to take the card mage’s shoes off.

And wasn’t it so funny that she thought she needed her to win this whole thing ? Like she truly thought that she couldn’t do it by herself with her own team. Maybe, she needed to worry about her own sorry ass, and be happy the demonic mage didn’t take it too seriously, or she would have one hell of a hard day when her team lost.

If only she could decide about the things she could ask her to do when that bet would be won.

Oh revenge was indeed going to be sweet.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you were going to be on a second team.”

She almost jumped, but only because she hadn’t quite thought about this whole thing since the morning. So much had happened since then, she didn’t even imagine the knight mage could be still stuck on that. So she just let out a loud giggle, which was painful to stop when she met the woman’s cold stare.

“Well, I didn’t want to spoil the surprise.” She giggled some more, without so much as a reaction. “Are you seriously angry with me ?”

Her smile died then as they walked back down the corridor.

But she didn’t get an answer.

“Goodnight.”

Not did she get even a slight smile as the redhead almost slammed her team’s bedroom door behind.

She was so aggravating sometimes. Shedidn’t think much more about it as she opened her own door to hopefully tuck herself into her own bed, even it was going to spin quite a lot.

But she froze when she saw him.

He was still laying on that bed. Well, his bed. Not that she expected him to be on her bed or anything, but he never seemed to change position or anything either.

“Hey.” He only said softly, not looking up from this rulebook he had seem to get lost in again.

“Hey.”

There was an awkward silence, then. When he only glanced at her while she desperately tried to correctly sit on her bed, take her shoes off without losing all balance, and stop the heat that threatened to take control of her face again. Maybe she could just blame it on the alcohol. She then tried to find her stuff, but her bag was kind of stuck under her bed, so it took an embarrassing long time to get it out and start searching for her night clothes and bathroom supplies.

He didn’t seem to notice but she knew he was a great pretender. She cursed the master inside yet again for forcing her to be on this team and being so cheap it probably wasn’t the only time she would find herself so awkwardly alone with him. Where were the others even ? She knew it wasn’t that late. To her great shame, because now she had to admit she was already that drunk.

To him.

And she really didn’t want to.

“You’re okay ?”

His voice startled her again, even more when she found him staring at her dumbfounded gaze and probably very red cheeks.

“Yeah.” She tried to giggle, but it sounded just wrong.

“Oh.” He didn’t look away though, still piercing through like he really tried to figure out what she was up to. “Because you’ve been staring at your bag for like five minutes…so, I just wondered.”

Fuck. Five minutes ? She needed to go to bed. No, she needed to change first. But she had sweated all day, so a shower would be better first. Not that she had a choice, because it was either the bathroom or change in the room in front of him. And she knew he wouldn’t mind after the spending the last hour with his hand up her leg, but that wasn’t happening. Not when she couldn’t take her shoes off without risking falling on her nose.

She had a reputation to keep.

“Why don’t you concentrate on finding your loophole, or whatever you’ve been searching for since this morning ?”

If only he didn’t look so hot as he suddenly shut the book down to settle it on the table. He didn’t look away though, still gazed at her as he stood up to open the window and nonchalantly took out the pack of cigarettes from his pocket. She knew now why he took the window bed. She didn’t look away either, still tried to make herself as defiant as possible as she watched him smirk and light the silly thing on, inhaling it like he was some hot gangster boy from the movies.

He did look the part though.

He didn’t say anything at first, but he was the first to break their staring contest while he exhaled the smoke out and she took the opportunity to finally get her stuff out of her bag.

“So” He started, staring again like she was doing the most interesting thing in the world. “Are you planning to change in the bathroom or right here ?”

To say she got flustered was an understatement. She got so red, she knew it was impossible to hide anymore. But she couldn’t let him win after he had spent the whole day trying to get on her last nerve. She did smile though, a bit awkwardly but quite angrily too. She paused, looking first at her bag, and taking a long inspiration before rising up her eyes to meet his face. She formed the words again and again in her head, just to be sure she wouldn’t stutter.

“Shut up.”

She was happy, because her voice hadn’t trembled, nor broken, certainly not stuttered, and even though her cheeks were very hot, she knew her gaze to be just as cold. But he did smirk though, although he did look a bit taken aback, like he expected any kind of different answer. But he was getting on her last nerve, and she had plenty.

“Why ?” He insisted, still trying not to grin too widely or his canines would start showing. “I’m only asking a question.”

“Oh yeah sure, like you fucking mean it.”

She was very aggressive now, and she could feel the anger replace the awkwardness in her throat. She just had to remember to keep her voice down because God forbid she alerted the whole guild with that stupid fight of theirs. He did get startled too at that one, with his eyebrows suddenly rising, and she was pretty sure he almost choke himself on that cigarette of his.

“What makes you think I don’t mean it ?”

This one hurt her. Because she knew he wasn’t serious with this whole thing. Not the way she was. It didn’t seem to bother him not to talk to her all day, nor did he truly tried to talk to her ever since he came back. She had tried. She had stressed over, and over it, and she was done. She was truly done trying to figure out what on earth could be going on in that pretty little hot head of his.

Even though those jeans and t-shirt looked very fit on him. And even though seeing those teeth when he flirted like an asshole was definitely something. But there was difference between flirting, and being an asshole.

“Oh, is that so ?” She got up because of the anger, but she only spoke up because of the alcohol. She was this close to yelling. “So, if I were to take my dress off right here, in front of you, you’d actually do something about it, instead of staring at me like a wolf ?” She said that to provoke him, because she knew he wasn’t going to walk out of that one. And she needed to be angry with him.

“Would you want me to do something about it ?”

It was her turn to smirk. Not only because she had the images going up in her mind, and honestly it wasn’t so bad of an idea. To just get over it and talk later, at least things would be dealt with much more quietly, because there was no way she was finishing that conversation calmy. She knew she was approaching him also, but not matter how much her mind tried to tell her to go back, she only advanced until she was just one step away from him.

She could feel the cold air skimming along her neck, and she realised just how much she had to be red, because it felt frozen coming in contact with her cheeks. But she didn’t think she looked ridiculous, because he definitely staring at her like she was extremely not. And that felt good, but only at first because then, she remembered it wasn’t real, and that it was all just a game to him. And that really hurt. it really hurt to be this close to him, to catch a glimpse of his aftershave and the whiskey he’d been drinking, while knowing he would never let her get so close.

“I want you to stop playing with me.”

She said that one not too loud. Not because she was less angry but because she was close enough to touch him now. He didn’t take a step back though, he allowed her to approach until she was so near, she could start feeling the heat coming from him. He did look away, and crushed his cigarette that was only half finished. But when he looked back at her, she saw something in his eyes. Something serious, like he actually cared. And she almost couldn’t breathe.

“I’m not playing at anything, demon.”

But that wasn’t enough for her. Because she was tired. Tired of being angry but also tired of wanting to come near him but never getting to actually do it. She was tired of this useless flirting and pretending, and getting all worked up for something that never happened.

“Aren’t you ?”

So she tried. She was already so close, she almost didn’t have to move to touch his lips. She went forward and tried to kiss him, but as she closed her eyes, she felt it change. The whole seriousness he had just then kind of vanished, and instead, he was left all hesitant before turning his head away, exhaling and clenching his teeth like that took every effort in his body.

“Mira…”

And it hurt. It hurt so bad, it felt like her organs had bones and they all had broken at the same time. Her intestines, her stomach, her lungs. Even her throat because there wasn’t much left of her voice when she gathered the strength to talk.

“What the hell are you doing ?”

She knew she sounded like she was going to cry, but she didn’t care. She didn’t care because she wanted him to see how much he was hurting her, and how much she had the right to hate him.

“You’re hella drunk.”

And it felt so stupid. This whole thing. And she had to be the stupidest girl in the world because it wasn’t even the first time he used that excuse to get out of this. Stupid girl. Why did she think it would be any different this time ?

“No, I’m not.”

Her voice still trembled but she didn’t walk back, she waited until he gently grabbed her arms and tried to push her away. And she wanted to resist, but there was something so utterly desperate about it that she just let him.

“Yes, you are, your breath smells like you swallowed the entire bar.”

He tried to walk with her, tried to guide her to her bed, but she couldn’t take her eyes off of him. She couldn’t stop trying to figure out why he was smirking right now. Why he didn’t get that she wanted to hit him badly. And push him. And scream. So she gripped on his arms and bit her lip so the tears wouldn’t come out too fast.

“Why are you doing this to me ?”

She knew her voice was pathetic. She knew she looked pathetic.

“Mira, you’re drunk, you should go to bed. We can talk about that tomorrow.”

Tomorrow ? No, no way, she wasn’t spending yet another night wondering about what she did wrong or what was going in his head. No, no fucking way. Not tomorrow, and certainly not the fucking day after. So she just yelled and pushed him.

Hard. So hard he almost lost balance and fell over his own bed. But he didn’t, and she felt like running. Running to a place where she wouldn’t have to see his face and all the humiliation that went with it. She went to put her shoes on, because whatever he said, she wasn’t that drunk. Not enough to forget her shoes, and certainly not enough not to know exactly what she was doing.

It was all his fault.

“Where the fuck are you going ? Mirajane, come back here.”

She heard him yell and throw orders around. She felt him trying to reach her in the precipitation, so she grabbed the first thing that came and threw it as hard as she could at his ridiculous face. It happened to be one of her spare shoes. But he dodged it.

“Stop throwing shoes at me !”

He tried to reach for her again but she only felt the tip of his fingers before shoving him again.

“Don’t touch me.”

When he tried again, he looked a lot more serious than just before. But she had taken some advance, so she was already at the door.

“Mirajane”

He swallowed the distance so quickly it actually startled her. But she was quick too, and the door was opened now, so she only had the time to slam it just before his face.

And then she ran. She ran downstairs, without caring anymore if anyone heard them. They were probably all drunk anyway. She heard the door open, and the fast and heavy steps that followed just after her. She didn’t hear him anymore, but he was calling. But a lot quieter, because he still cared about waking up everyone.

When she reached the ground floor of the tavern, she only had time to see them. All three of them only. If those feet sleeping on one of the benches were indeed Jellal’s. The rest of the entire place was empty. Which was weird because it couldn’t be that late, or maybe they had taken the party somewhere else. She felt relief, because he was coming after her, and she really didn’t feel like inventing some lie to explain it. At least these ones wouldn’t care that much.

If only he didn’t try to grab her just then.

“Mirajane !”

There’s something about reflexes. Something incontrollable. And relieving. She didn’t feel her hand take the bottle from the bar beside her, she didn’t even feel it come in contact with the palm of her hand. And it must have been cold. But she didn’t feel anything except the rage that was pumping through her veins. She just slammed it. Into his face. But unlike the door, it did touch him this time. And break. Into little pieces. It made a noise too. A big one. But not as big as his face.

He was wet now. And she was frozen, with the rest of the bottle falling on the ground. Not because she was afraid of the infuriated look he gave her at this instant, but because she was just realizing exactly what she had done. And by the screams she had heard from their teammates, she knew it was real. She had crushed a bottle in his face. And now his head was wet with alcohol dripping from his chin, and kind of grimacing in pain or in anger.

She could have been afraid. But there was something about his face, and his eyebrows twitching uncontrollably. Something so funny and utterly ridiculous. Something about the rage coming down in one blow. She just broke out into laughter.

Horribly.

Uncontrollably.

And she heard the others laughing with her, and their hesitation to come up. And it was all so stupid, she felt like nothing but painfully apologizing between two hiccups, even if her stomach wasn’t so keen on helping her. She tried to articulate the words, but it was just so hard.

“I’m sor…”

He didn’t feel like laughing though. He looked torn between throwing another bottle at her head or frying her on the spot. His vein was pumping on his forehead, and it made all the blood leave her head to go straight to her feet.

Fuck, he was pissed.

And she wasn’t normally afraid of him, but the firing look in his eyes somehow made her forget she was capable of handling a drunken fight with him.

“Run.”

So she just ran again.

And if someone ever had to comment this scene, they would say that never did they see someone so pathetically run for their life.

She didn’t know how long she had been running for. Five, ten minutes. She didn’t even understand how he hadn’t already caught her. The guy could transform into lightning for god’s sake. Or maybe he didn’t know which way she went. Or maybe he was lost. Which was likely because he had the worse orientation skills ever. But wasn’t he supposed to have a dragon’s nose or something ? Couldn’t he find her with that ?

It was still weird to her, to think of him as one of them. She tried not to think about it too much but every time she remembered, it somewhat pinched her chest. She had known him for too long not to be hurt to hear something so important so long after. Or maybe she was just hurt he never told her himself. Especially when she used to tell him everything about herself. More or less.

She was getting tired now. Even with the three months of training, her stamina wasn’t the same as it used to. The alcohol wasn’t helping either, and she was very much trying to ignore the sick feeling that was growing up in her chest as well. It was cold too, she realised when she stopped. The street was full of drunk people having fun in all those bars. Probably all tourists that came for the festival.

It was loud too, and it smelled like smoke and beer. And so cold. She shivered and suddenly wondered when the last time was she had seen her sweater. The last time she saw it, it was on the bench they were all sat at, she remembered because it had been in the way of his hand to access her thigh, when everything was still hesitant, and not gone totally wrong. She shivered a second time, not because of the cold, but because she thought back on the feeling of his hand against her skin.

Maybe she should start fleeing again.

She felt it, the heaviness. It always came when he approached, it was like an invisible dark cloud following his every step. Most people missed it because they did not know him, but she would have recognised it had she been lost in the sea of a thousand people. And it sent chills down her spine. And not only because she had to start running again.

She couldn’t even run anymore. There were so many people she couldn’t make two steps before crashing into someone. Some of them even that weird frowning face like they recognised her from somewhere but couldn’t quite tell where. At that pace, he was going to catch her in no time. She should transform into someone else, maybe with the crowd, he wouldn’t be able to spot her smell. She didn’t even know how good he was with smells.

She entered a perpendicular street, because it was always a lot quieter to transform with less people looking, besides, she had to transform into someone going the other way or it would look weird. But then she saw it. She saw the neon, the music coming from the place, the man guarding the entrance but the weird windows with their shuts down. It could only mean one thing. Strip club. So she rushed into it. The man didn’t even stop her. Why would he ?

Inside, the music was a lot louder. And it couldn’t be that late because the girls dancing still had way too many clothes on. She didn’t even bother thinking about where she was going, instead, she went for the back room just near the scenes. Hopefully, she could hide in there. Hopefully, he wouldn’t be able to catch her smell in that street. Hopefully, he wouldn’t imagine that she would go into a strip club. Hopefully, he didn’t know where the backroom was.

It was surprisingly empty. But that worked to her advantage, maybe she could transform and dress up as a waitress or something. Annoying thing was she had to choose the uniform carefully if she didn’t want to be forced to take it off without blowing her whole cover. Maybe she could make herself into a brunette, or a redhead. Maybe he didn’t like those and wouldn’t even look at her. Or maybe he would look and recognise her, and she would get anxious her whole life every time he looked at a brunette.

God that was stupid. She told herself as she saw her face change in the mirror circled by lights. She looked cute, in some way. Even had given herself freckles and green eyes. The face was always the hardest to change without a model. But she had actually managed to do a great job. Now she had to find some clothes. Hopefully.

“There you are.”

She froze. She hadn’t felt him behind her. And she always felt him. She jumped also and weirdly tried to punch first, because in desperate cases, attack was surely the greatest defence. She must have been sloppy because he stopped her punch with one hand and way too easily. He was grinning too, almost laughing. If only he didn’t slam her against the wall just as fast.

“Really ?” He smiled again, but this time she could actually smell the tobacco on his breath. “That’s all you can do ?”

She gasped, even lost her transformation as her head recovered from the shock. He was blocking her wrists with two hands and there was no way she could get out of his grip without magic, but that would probably alert the whole party going on in the next room. Even if he probably had wet dreams about getting his ass kicked by one of her demons. She laughed then. Honestly. She was lost in giggles because she didn’t mind the position that much. Even if it meant getting her ass fried in less than two minutes. She would have had a good run.

“Stop it !” She yelled, still giggling hysterically as she started feeling some all too familiar tickling in the palms of his hand.

“Did you really think you were going to get away with that, little demon ?” He teased, still sending small charges through her arms, just to see her squirm and gesticulate on the spot.

“Let me go !” She wanted to add please, but thankfully she stopped herself.

And just when his arms left her hand and she thought her misery over, his hand grabbed her face and his lips crashed into hers. Not that she cared, she would have been angry if it didn’t come to that after his little game of torture. She knew he was smiling as she gripped his hair and tried to shove him closer. His tongue felt nice, and so did his hand going down her waist to grab her just below. So she almost bit him. Because it surprised her, but also because she couldn’t possibly let him win.

She almost felt lightheaded. Especially when he started tracing his way down her neck, while still grabbing everywhere he could. And that felt good. She always relished on his touch. It was rough, but sweet, but really so hot. She gripped his jeans also, and tried to bring him even closer, because it felt like nothing was ever going to close enough. She did grab her face again, and she moaned of frustration. But it didn’t last as he kissed her so deeply, she had to grab his shirt and wonder if she still had the strength to tear all those buttons off.

He tried to faintly protest, but then, they both heard the door open, and it was like a very cold shower coming down on them both.

“Oh, sorry to bother you guys, but both of you got to get out.”

She was pretty. The girl that interrupted them. A brunette, but she didn’t really care right now. Not when his hand was still on her waist, near but not quite where she truly wanted them. He smelled good too, behind the whole reek of alcohol and tobacco, he smelled just like she remembered. And it was just the best. She did giggle though, at the awkwardness of getting caught. He seemed more bothered in his tasks than anything else.

“Unless you’re down with a third.”

He did look at her them, almost hesitant, and she almost jumped out of her skin. What the hell was he thinking ? There was no way she was doing that with him, well with him maybe, but not with someone else. He even had the nerve to look disappointed. It finished convincing her to shove him away as they parted and took their way to the exit. She almost heard him apologizing to the girl, and she swore she could have punched him so hard.

She looked a bit awkward though, trying to put her dress back on correctly as they made their way through the crowd. The air seemed twice as cold as it had been before when she stepped out. Not surprising though as it had been horribly hot in that club. She did shiver a whole lot more when she felt his hand grab her waist and pull her towards the main street at the corner.

He didn’t say anything at first, but he looked a lot calmer than he had been before. So, she just followed him, like a convicted criminal bowing to their sentence. He even stayed quiet until they left the crowded street and walked peacefully towards the tavern.

“So, should we find somewhere else to go, or do you want to go back ?”

She did feel her heart jump at that one. But hopefully she didn’t show anything, and looked at him with that annoying grin on her face. Shaking her head though.

“Every other hotel room is booked, remember ?”

He grinned.

“Not the kind that rents by the hour.”

She laughed. He was truly that desperate. But she was drunk, and so was he. And it was all too important, she couldn’t have looked herself in the mirror if it ended in some creepy hotel with weird stains scattered across the room.

“Let’s just go, before the others come looking for us.”

They did go back, without saying anything, although she could feel some kind of small disappointment in his eyes, but he was still kind of grinning, so all was well.

“Where the hell were you guys ?” Gajeel asked as they walked in the room and found them all already getting into bed.

Jellal was still sleeping like a baby, which was weird because she didn’t even know if he was supposed to sleep here or with his own guild. Not that it mattered that much, but he certainly was going to have one hell of a headache tomorrow. If not the whole hangover that traditionally went with it. At least, he probably wasn’t going to be asked to fight anymore.

“Nowhere.” Laxus answered without many details.

She watched him crash on his own bed, as she went to find her night stuff again. She knew Gajeel wasn’t convinced by the answer, and that Juvia wanted to ask a whole another number of questions. But maybe they were intimidated, or maybe they honestly didn’t want to know that much, anyway, they didn’t ask any more questions as she finally went into that bathroom to get ready for the night.

She hoped she would catch a glimpse of his eyes as she walked out and tucked herself into her own covers, but he was already looking towards the window and away from her. It disappointed her, but it didn’t distress her that much. After all, he surely wasn’t going to ignore her after everything that happened today ? Not in private at least. If they succeeded in getting any private time without having to throw tableware around. It would be nice change. A nice, welcome change. All was well.

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#fairy tail #mirajane strauss #miraxus #laxus dreyar #laxus x mirajane #juvia lockser #jellal fernandes #gajeel redfox #cana alberona #lisanna strauss #elfman strauss #bickslow #freed justine #erza scarlet #evergreen

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fantasyandromancelover · 1 year

Text

The Haunted Mansion (My Version)

My own version of the Haunted Mansion that takes combined elements from all the rides, movie and special adaptations, and even deleted concepts, while crossing over with Fairy Tail and Eden's Zero. Also Zeref has no biological relation to Natsu.

It all began with Mavis, the beautiful daughter of a wealthy nobleman from the West who was blessed with great spirit and heart. She lived a life of luxury but also one of neglect, her parents hardly paid her any attention. The closest she had to a father figure was the generous landowner from New Orleans Makarov and her only friend was Zeref the young groundskeeper of her household. Of course Zeref and Mavis fell in love but her family refused to let them marry, they had already promised her hand to the rich sea captain Hades. Zeref was dismissed and Mavis was forbidden to see him again however the affair had caused her to become pregnant and later give birth to a baby girl. Wanting to cover up their daughter's loss of virginity outside of wedlock to preserve the arranged marriage, her parents immediately snatched the child from her mother's arms and gave her away to be raised solely by her father. Mavis was heartbroken.

Broken-hearted as well but desperate to support his daughter, Zeref left the West, traveling down South to New Orleans in hopes of finding a better life for them. Along the way he met a orphaned boy who had escaped the workhouse, starving and frail. Zeref nursed him back to health and took him in so his daughter could have someone to tend to her and make her smile in place of her mother. Upon arriving in New Orleans, he ran into Makarov and told him his story, but with held the truth of who the mother of his child was. Makarov was sympathetic, he hired Zeref and allowed him to live and raise the two children in his household, a glorious mansion that was unlike any that had ever been built before. The boy was called Natsu and Zeref's daughter was named Juvia.

Natsu and Juvia were raised to one day work as servants but they were also given the privilege of being schooled alongside a neighborhood boy called Jellal, the servants’s children Evergreen, Bickslow, Freed, Mest, and the musical prodigy Gajeel, and Makarov's three orphaned grandchildren who he had had been made guardian of. Laxus the abandoned child of Marakov's son, Erza who is clairvoyant, and Gray who is rebellious. The eleven children grow up together in the mansion, becoming the best of friends.

Meanwhile back in the West, Mavis is forced to marry Hades and she later has a daughter called Lucy. Mavis is unhappy in her marriage but loves Lucy and plans a decent future for her, giving her the best education and working with Makarov to secure a suitable marriage for her. An example being that earlier, before her wedding to Hades, the two agreed that if Mavis's first child was born a girl then she should marry Makarov's grandson Gray once they reached proper age.

However despite her devotion to Lucy, Mavis never forgets about Juvia and will occasionally receives letters from Zeref with updates on her other child. Tragically though, one day Hades intercepts a letter and assumes Mavis is cheating on him. So he killed her and staged it as a suicide, and when poor Zeref learned of her death, he dropped dead of a broken heart. Lucy, Juvia, and Natsu were left devastated. After her mother's passing, Lucy was neglected by her father and the only thing she was allowed to do was study and learn how to one day be a proper bride. But she had friends, three cousins on her mother's side Mirajane, Elfman, and Lisanna, her school mate bookish Levy, and Cana the daughter of her house's majordomo, who also has the gift of clairvoyance.

Years pass, both Mavis's daughters grow into exceptionally beautiful young women, with Lucy inheriting their mother's great spirit, being vivacious, strong-willed, and independent while Juvia inherits their mother's great heart, being kind, gentle, and demure. When Lucy turns eighteen, she, her father, her servants, her cousins, and her friends travel to New Orleans for her to marry Gray. Gray is handsome, gentlemanly, and has a rebel streak but he and Lucy don't really have a romantic connection. This being because he is secretly, deeply, and madly in love with Juvia and later during Lucy's stay she finds herself falling for the equally handsome, mocking, but charming new groundskeeper Natsu.

Now it just so happens that Hades is a secret pirate who married Mavis only for her money but that fortune is now running low, and Makarov's family had enough money to sustain him for years. Desperate to ensure that everything would go according to plan, he forces the clairvoyant Cana and Erza to tell him of his daughter's future and they reveal Lucy's romance with Natsu and that Gray and Juvia are planning to run away together. They also reluctantly reveal that Juvia is actually Mavis's daughter by Zeref and she was her first born child meaning technically Juvia should be the one marrying Gray. But because Hades is not her father, he won't get a dime of Gray's fortune should they marry.

To stop the lovers, he uses witchcraft to make Lucy hate Natsu and to poison Juvia, leaving behind a false note that she never loved Gray and took her own life.But this back fires on him drastically for Gray is driven so mad with grief that he hangs himself and the hate spell on Lucy proves to be so strong that she chopped off Natsu's head, causing her to be arrested and executed. This tragedy shatters both families, friends, and staff members, leaving a lasting effect that doesn't fade even when others knew happier times such as the marriage and families of Jellal and Erza, Gajeel and Levy, and Laxus and Mirajane. But it was Mavis's spirit who was most effected, furious with this terrible injustice inflicted upon her children, she cursed everyone within the mansion to wander the earth after death until the truth was known, until the one responsible was punished, and until the lovers were rightfully reunited. A prophecy is written, that the descendants of the tragedy will set them free.

The mansion is abandoned with many people being too scared of the legends and the curse to even consider being near it. But decades later, Rebecca and her younger sister Copa who are direct descendants of Jellal and Erza, move to New Orleans and inherit the old mansion after the death of their parents. Rebecca intends to turn it into a Bed and Breakfast but shortly after moving in she discovers that it's haunted by ghosts. Particularly by Natsu the deranged and vengeful Hat Box Ghost, Gray the traumatized and embittered Master of the house, and Lucy the psychotic and still hexed Attic Bride.

She hires paranormal investigator Shiki who is a direct descendant of Gajeel and Levy, and his exorcist partner Weisz who is a direct descendant of Laxus and Mirajane. Together they work with the legendary medium spirit Madame Erza, the Ghost Host Jellal, and the amnesic Beating-Heart Bride Juvia to break the curse and help the spirits move on. One problem though, every ghost in the mansion is either completely insane or has no memory of anything that happened before they died, due to Hades casting his own curse on the mansion.

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