Game Mode Zero (NaLu // AU)

Mother, friends and doubts

"How am I supposed to get her phone number?"

"You ask that for the tenth time already. I have no idea. You should've asked her when you had the chance to."

Gray and Natsu went to the park to get some fresh air, because the arcade became pretty stuffy inside. The day turned out differently than originally planned. They had arranged to practice  beforehand, but Natsu only complained. He was worse than expected. Right now they were sitting next to each other, observing some children playing with their phones.

"I was distracted" He admitted. "She makes me all edgy inside."

Gray shoot a glance at his friend. "Edgy, huh" He breathed.

He clapped his hands once and jumped up. "Come on. There must be at least one person who knows how to contact her. If that doesn't work we could still call her agent or something."

"Hm, or we ask Erza." Natsu mumbled.

"Stupid! - Wait. Did you?- Erza!" Gray was obviously surprised to hear something useful coming from his friend. "Sure, we ask Erza." He repeated as If to make sure this really was a good idea. There was no doubt.

Natsu actually put on his thinking cap. Creepy.

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Back at home Lucy carefully put her glove on the occasional table next to her fittet wardrobe. If it didn't look to weird she would put it on a pillow or something. The moment she placed her bag on a chair her phone started to ring.

"Please don't!" she cried.

"Heartfilia?" And answered the call.

"Hey, Lucy. This is Angel. You remember? Your agent you wanted to call as soon as you arrive in Magnolia, but the way I see it that was quite a few days ago. Six, to be exactly. Anyway, Clover Town still wants you, in case you want to? Ah, and I remember agreeing to a commercial spot in Crocus. What do you think? Meet me at a café in 40 minutes?"

"Stop!" Lucy raised her voice extremely. She almost worried about her neighbor hearing her scream, but she was more afraid to tell Angel that she won't be able to accept any offers. Even the ones her agent already agreed to.

"I can't accept any offer. I'll be otherwise engaged."

The other line went silent for a moment until a cheerful voice continued to talk. Angel tried hard to find out what Lucy had planned. The conversation lasted at least another 15 minutes. "Honestly, I can't tell you. It's a secret and I want nobody to know. Please, excuse me. You have to work without me for a few weeks. I'm sure there are enough other celebs waiting for your call. You're great. I love you. Bye!"

With that she ended the conversation pressing the red button.

Enough calls for today.

And her phone rang again.

"Heartfilia." She sighed.

"Yo, whadd'ya up to, Luce?" 

"Natsu?! Where did you get my number from?" She almost dropped her phone when she heard the familiar voice. After the shock her heart calmed down pretty quickly when he stated again.

"I asked someone." Hypocrite. "But what I wanted from you~"

"Please don't want anything from me right now. You should contact me in a few hours when I finished showering and some office stuff. By the way, who did you ask?"

"Non-essantial." 

"Yes, it is."

"Erza."

"Erza?"

"Yes, Erza."

"I never gave her?- Never mind. Alright, I suppose you wanna train?"

He said nothing. The only thing she heard were some damp noises. he probably forgot that she can't see him and was shaking his head eagerly. At least he was ambitious.

"Meet me tomorrow at the arcade 2am."

"Wait! Why so late?!"

"See you there!"

Dead line.

Twenty-four hours remained to pack a bag and start a world tour. How was she supposed to get out of this. The previous night she did barely sleep. Levy and her talked for hours about what to do. Hell, she didn't even know what to think!

This time she decided to turn off the device and put it far far away. She grabbed a thick book and filled her bathtub with hot water. Hours passed while she read. To cool her head, she used to say. And to heat her body

Even though she always wanted this book it wasn't able to distract her enough from the coming events. She is going to participate in the Grand Pixel Games. With a team. With Fairy Tail. It was a dream coming true while undergoing her worst nightmares.

"Mother, what would you do?" she whispered  to the picture of a beautiful and strong blond next to her. "Of course you'd fight. Just as you did three years ago. As you did twenty years ago." She sighed. "Do you want me to fight, too?"

"Certainly."

"Levy! What are you doing here?! I'm naked!"

"Don't act like I haven't seen everything already."

"We were ten!" Lucy hissed.

Levy just shrugged. She leaned against the doorframe of Lucy's bathroom, arms crossed. She approached Lucy and placed one hand on her forehead. "Shit you're boiling! How long have you been inside there?!"

"Dunno." Her friend mumbled sinking deeper into the water, one arm holding the book dangling outside the tub. Levy grabbed the novel and put on the small cupboard as far away as possible. "Come on, get out." Lucy bubbled "Still naked" so that Levy handed her a towel.

Levy just stood there and watched when her best friend stumbled out of the tub. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea as she thought. Maybe its too early for her. Maybe she needs more time to comprehend whats happening. She never wanted to see her best friend like that ever again. She still could call Natsu and cancel everything. Maybe Lucy wasn't ready.

"Natsu called me."

Three word brought her back to reality. It was to late. Feelings of guilt crept up her throat. "Listen, Lu-chan. If you don't want to do this just say so."

"I agreed meeting him."

She agreed?

"To tell the truth, I made the agreement. Somehow it was my idea."

Her idea?

"His voice calmed me down. I dunno. He didn't want me to work for him. He wanted to work with me. For the first time it wasn't only about me. It was about him. I admire him, somehow. His determination."

The towel wrapped around her body she stood in front of Levy. Her eyes painfully screwed up. "What am I supposed to do?"

Minutes passed without anyone saying a word. Lucy's body began to shiver.

"You should fight." Three words. Barely audible. Neither for Lucy nor the one who said them.  These three word should chance the fate of more than just a little blond girl. They were supposed to change everything.

Then the world turned black.

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I love this story so much and I really appreciate your support. I really hurried to finish this chapter. Not only as excuse, also as Thank You. I know, it didn't happen much this chapter, but it's still very important for me. I loved writing Levy's thoughts. Well, I may only have one week holiday BUT I have already three more chapters planned and my boyfriend has to wait until they're finished. So, thank you so much  for reading. If you like it please leave a fave or comment. It helps he to continue the story...Call it motivation.. ?

1139 words ~