Chapter Text
Paper Moon
Chapter Five
Laurel Grove Forest
Fiore
"I'm so over this stupid forest." Lucy groaned and debated whether to summon Horologium or not. She wanted to conserve her magical energy just in case something sinister popped up but she really didn't want to walk anymore. It was getting boring. She wasn't expecting a very exciting job, they were looking for a mushroom after all- but she hoped for something more substantial than just some walking. It left her alone with too many of her thoughts.
She had been heading in the same direction for what seemed like hours and what did she have to show for it? Sore feet. She soon had realized how utterly dumb the whole job was. How the hell were they going to find a singular mushroom that may or may not be mythical? "I really should have thought this job through before I took it. Ugh, this is what I get for getting greedy."
And now her stomach was rumbling. Lucy reached into her bag and realized she had left her granola bars at the inn. Great. Just perfect. Now she was going to be hungry and tired. Lucy was at the point where she saw no need in continuing her suffering and summoned her clock spirit. If she was going to be both hungry and tired she might as well eliminate one of those two. Thanking him profusely, she climbed in and shut the door, allowing Horologium to be her legs for now.
See? I should have just done this in the beginning. Why do I always make things difficult for myself? No one appreciates me enough, I work so hard and for what? A pauper's pittance and a team that just invites themselves into my most personal life-
Lucy stopped in her inner soliloquy to crane her ears. She waited a bit more and heard an animal screeching in the distance. She was unaware of the kind of animal, but it sounded not too far from her. She made a mental note to not travel towards that direction. The screeching kept up for a bit before Lucy saw outlines of lighting through the trees. Seems like Laxus is busy.
I wonder how Gray and Natsu are doing. With our luck they probably ran into each other and are in the middle of killing each other. Lucy shrugged her shoulders. No point in worrying about them, she still had to survive this awful place. Lucy took in the surroundings, the foliage was getting thicker here, the sun not nearly as bright. It was a sign of her heading in the right direction, but it also meant she was getting deeper in this godforsaken forest.
All too soon she heard, "Many apologies my dear Princess, but I must be going now. I have an appointment with Crux."
"Hey!" But he was gone in a poof and Lucy landed on the ground. She grumbled, standing and dusting her clothes off "Typical. Just when I get all cozy too." She steeled herself and kept walking. Who knew celestial spirits were so unreliable? It must be just hers. Lucy let out a loud groan that echoed through the forest. She grabbed her key ring, ready to summon Pyxis when she heard the leaves rustle behind her.
Lucy tensed and turned around slowly, her mind set on summoning one of her Zodiacs now. Her face was met with the cutest little boar she had ever seen in her life. Instantly, she dropped her guard and squealed. "Oh hey little guy! I don't suppose you know where to find paper moon do you? My teammates are looking for it and we'd be very glad to find it." She slowly stuck her hand out as if to pet it and reeled her hand back when it snapped its mouth at her. "Hey! That's not nice-" the boar growled menacingly and kicked at the ground.
Lucy nervously backed away slowly. "It's okay Mr. Boar uh, nice piggy- AAHHHH!" She screamed and started running when the boar charged at her. "WHAT KIND OF FOREST IS THIS?" It would have been a comical sight: a tiny little boar chasing around a full fledged wizard. If only he wasn't set on eating her.
She narrowly avoided running into trees and most of the branches, except for one, that stung against her cheek.
Lucy hesitantly looked back only to see the boar still after her. This thing isn't letting up! Wait, why am I not fighting it? Taurus could easily scare the crap out of this little creep. She pivoted in her heel to summon her faithful zodiac when she felt her body start tilting backwards. Lucy's eyes widened when she realized the ground beneath her was crumbling. She had in her haste, stood on the edge of a ravine, the ground was steep beneath her, maybe twenty feet.
Lucy had a moment where she froze,not sure what to do except let the inevitable happen. "Oh fuck." She swore the boar had a satisfied smile as she tumbled down the hill.
It hurt. As she rolled down, not only was she getting dizzy, leaves and twigs were snapping and tangling into her. She tried very hard to avoid the trees, swerving just in time. "Omph!" She started to gain speed the longer she spent rolling. Maybe she underestimated the height of the drop. She was scared to open her eyes, fearful of anything getting in her eyes.
Amazingly, she could hear someone or something rustling below her and she yelled out in warning. "Watch out!" She could only pray they were wise enough to get out of her way. She hit what she was sure was a tree because of the sheer force and the lack of air in her chest as she slammed against it. Though, it wasn't nearly as hard as a tree, so maybe a strong bush?
She felt all the air knocked out of her body. "Ugh." Lucy rubbed her eyes. Yep, this was going to be sore in the morning. Everything would be sore tomorrow.
"What the fuck happened to you Blondie?" Of course, if there was anyone or anything she could have come across, she meets the one wizard he's half in love with, because how else would the world work? Certainly not fairly. She glared up at Laxus.
"I rolled down a hill. What else?" She tried to appear menacingly but that was hard to do when she was literally on her back looking up at him.
He rolled his eyes at her, "no shit. What I want to know is how this all happened."
Her cheeks reddened. He was going to hold this over her head for days. "I err- may or may not have ran away from this uh-huge creature and you know rolled down when I was trying to get away."
"Really?" He pulled her up and she noticed for the first time all the scratches on his face.
"What happened to you?"
He looked embarrassed. "Nothing. Forget it."
She didn't press the matter because he hadn't at her obvious lie. But she did have a sneaking suspicion that the screeching she heard earlier was an animal attacking Laxus. By the scratchings on his face, the little creature had gotten the best of Laxus. "Any luck?"
He snorted. "On what? Finding a singular mushroom with no information or any idea of what it looks like or a map of this godforsaken forest?"
"Me either," she shook her head, "do you think Natsu or Gray have had a better time?"
"Doubtful. If Natsu hasn't burnt down the forest by now, he will. And that icicle has a better chance warding off Juvia then finding this damn mushroom."
"Hmm." She didn't know when they started walking together, but she glanced at his profile. Laxus did care, if he didn't, she doubted she would have developed feelings for him.
"A picture would last longer you know."
He scared the life out of her. "Huh?"
"You were staring."
She was on fire. "N-no I was-"
"It's fine. I know I'm good looking." Oh he was insufferable! How could she ever even think about wanting a relationship with him? He noticed her tense up and eased up on her. "Calm down Blondie. I was only joking. It sure is easy to get a reaction from you."
She settled for glaring at him, "you are so-eep!" He suddenly clamped his hand over her mouth and shushed her over her protests.
"You hear that?" Lucy quieted and heard the rustling in the bushes around them. Laxus got in a defensive stance and stood in front of Lucy. His hands had electricity forming, ready to attack.
The rustling got louder and Lucy's adrenaline spiked up again. It was a slow moment and then-
It was the fucking boar.
Her mouth swung open. How had it found her? Instead of attacking, the boar let out a low squeal. It seemed to like Laxus. Well, that was what Lucy could decipher by the way it squealed happily at being picked up by the giant. It was even cuter now! Laxus seemed to disagree. "A pig?" He was unimpressed. He held it arms length away from his face. "C'mon Lucy. It's only a little animal."
"Uh, I wouldn't do that if I was you." Apparently it didn't like to be compared with a pig because it chomped down on Laxus's arm. He swore loudly and creatively. His magic pulsed through his body and he gave the creature a little shock.
"Laxus!"
He gave her an incredulous look, "what? This fucker just tried to eat me!" He dropped the boar to the ground and kept walking as if nothing happened. "What kind of shitty place is this." He mumbled under his breath.
Laxus was really starting to think this whole job was complete bullshit. First, they hadn't met the client, then they all marched off in separate directions in a pesky forest, he had been humiliated by a goddamn squirrel that decided to attack and scratch him up, and now this annoying little monster had the nerve to bite him.
Not to mention the fact that Lucy had knocked into him at a rapid speed that nearly flattened him. (But that was a sort of plus in his book)
And he was still no closer to finding that mushroom. He wondered when his role of supervisor changed to an active member in this job. No respect whatsoever.
He sincerely hoped Natsu and Gray weren't faring any better. That stripper had refused to explain his reasoning about earlier and honestly, Laxus couldn't give less of a shit. Whatever got the ice mage off his rocks was no business to Laxus.
So they were walking in silence, he was unsure if they were even looking at this point. He felt like Lucy wanted to give up too. It was too bad it was still warm outside, he couldn't watch her shiver and give her his jacket. Damn. She really was cute in it.
"Laxus?"
"Hmm?" He stared ahead absently.
"What's your favorite color?" It was an abrupt question that he was truly not expecting. It was almost childish in the sense that it wasn't a very deep question. In other words, it was a stupid question.
He frowned. Laxus never really entertained the idea of favorite colors. It all seemed stupid to have a preference on colors of all things. But… he was partial to purple, not that anyone really knew. "I don't have one."
She obviously wasn't taking that as an answer. "Don't be ridiculous, everyone has a favorite color! Isn't there one you like a little bit better than the others?"
"Ah, I guess purple would be it?"
It made sense. Laxus was very good at not giving a shit especially over trivial things. He didn't really seem to care about what he wore but he did wear a little bit more purple than any color. And it suited him. "That's a pretty color." Though Laxus told himself he didn't care about about anything, Lucy's obvious approval warmed him, making him want to seek it out.
He couldn't really say anything more because out of the sky, an eagle swooped down and landed right onto Lucy's head. He watched her face contort as she let out a scream.
"LAXUS GET IT OFF!" She flapped her arms wildly. The eagle's sharp talons were curled over her head as it tried to nestle in deeper. He couldn't control his laugh and belted out loudly. After watching her for a few seconds he went over to pull the bird off, his laughter was cut short when the bird tried to attack his face.
What the hell? He threw it off and watched it fly off. "Do you know why Mother Nature is attacking us?"
He watched the blonde scowl and rub her face harshly. "I don't know and I don't care. All I know is this is a waste of time!" Laxus blinked. He had never seen Lucy lose it, according to Natsu, she went psycho on the daily but he had never witnessed it first hand. "We need to meet the client! If he's sick-I'll get sick too, I don't care but we can't keep walking in circles with no idea!"
It was incredibly hot.
His pants tightened a bit but before he could do anything, there was a loud explosion on the other side of the forest. Lucy threw her hands in the air, "what now?"
"It's probably Natsu fighting something. Most likely Gray." Laxus hoped it was the latter. Even after shocking the little shit to the guild and back, the popsicle refused to say anything about last night. It really put a chip in his ego.
Like he had said last night, something smelled fishy.
"Of course. Let's go Laxus." He raised an eyebrow.
"Oh? The cheerleader is giving me orders now?" He teased, hoping to provoke her.
It backfired when she only glared at him. "Laxus, did you want to keep walking in circles like a dumbass or did you want to knock down the door and complete this job?" Damn. Laxus liked bossy Lucy, a lot. It was amazing to see how passionate the blonde was.
He watched her summon one of her weird spirits, this little duck thing, and start walking in the direction it pointed her in. Personally, Laxus wouldn't take direction from a deformed duck but if he got to watch Lucy walk away, swishing her hips with each step, then follow he would.
The view was worth it.