#freelu

Now for some Gemini antics at the expense of Lucy's pride! 

I hope you enjoy!

Gemi and Mini's Plan (Freed x Lucy ft. Gemini)

Lucy sat at a table with Levy, who was talking excitedly about a book that she had recently come across. However, the blonde wasn't able to pay much attention. The voice of her friend muffled in her ears as her eyes drifted up to the second floor of the guildhall. She watched as Freed buried his nose into a book while Bixlow babbled to Evergreen across the table from him. She felt her cheeks warm in a light blush as she took in the rune mage's attractive side profile. 

She hadn't realized that she was staring when Levy suddenly clapped her hands in front of her face, causing her to jump and snap back to attention. She turned back to her friend, finding that the blue-haired woman was grinning at her with a knowing sparkle in her eyes. 

Lucy straightened her back and flicked her eyes away as her cheeks warmed even more, asking, "what?" 

Levy raised an eyebrow, a cheshire grin still on her face. "You were staring at him again." 

Lucy looked away at the floor. She responded, "I, um, don't know what you're talking about." 

She heard Levy sigh. "Come on, Lucy! You've been crushing on Freed for a year now, you need to confess to him already!" 

Lucy snapped her gaze back up to look at her best friend, shaking her hands in front of herself frantically as she exclaimed, "I can't do that!" 

"And why not?" 

"Because...well, because..." Lucy looked down at the table, her cheeks burning and her gut doing flips. She thought about telling Freed how she felt, but was overcome with an anxious feeling and fear of him rejecting her. She groaned and dropped her head onto the table, finally answering, "there's no way that he would feel the same way. He probably likes Laxus or Mira." 

"How do you know that? Haven't you and Freed been getting really close recently?" 

"Yeah, but-"

"But what? You can't know how he feels if you don't tell him about your feelings. Lucy, you could be passing up a chance to date Freed. If he doesn't feel the same way, then at least you'll get some closure." 

Lucy lifted her head to look at her friend. She then looked up at Freed. Letting her friend's words sink in, her brow furrowed as she was overcome with a sudden wave of courage. She smiled at Levy and said, "thanks, Levy!" 

She then stood up and made her way to the staircase that lead up to the second floor of the guildhall. She marched up the stairs and walked toward the Thunder Legion's table, approaching from behind Freed. Laxus wasn't present, so it was just the Freed, Evergreen, and Bixlow at the table. 

Lucy recited in her head what she was going to say. Until, the realization of what she was doing hit like one of Natsu's Dragon Slayer Roars. She stopped in her tracks, her brain instantly short-circuiting. What was she doing? Was she really going to tell Freed that she had feelings for him? Sure, it's possible that he likes her in that way too, but what if he doesn't? What if he rejects her? What was she going to do then? Would she be able to still be friends with him? She and Freed had become surprisingly close recently, so would that relationship be affected at all? Would Freed want to be her friend still? The celestial wizard was staring at nothing in particular as her mind raced with questions. 

"-ucy? Lucy? Lucy!" 

Lucy once again jumped and snapped back to reality when someone loudly called her name. She realized that she had been standing in one spot, staring at Freed's back, when she found that said man was standing in front of her, watching her with his usual blank face, but worry was evident in his sea-green eyes. 

Freed questioned, his tone soft, as though he didn't want his two teammates to hear him, "are you alright? Is something wrong?" 

Lucy took a few steps away, her cheeks burning. Her stomach started doing flips and she raised a hand to cover her face, wanting desperately to disappear. When Freed took a step closer to her, she stuttered out, "I-I need to go home!" 

She then turned around and hurried out of the guild, silently cursing at herself as she made her way back to her apartment. 

Gemi and Mini floated through the Celestial Spirit World. They were incredibly bored, having not been summoned by Lucy and not being able to find another spirit who was willing to entertain them. It was Mini who finally thought of something to do, "let's see what Lucy is doing." Gemi quickly agreed to this and, with a "piri-piri," they disappeared from their realm and appeared in the human realm. 

When they summoned themselves, they found Lucy laying face-down on her bed, groaning. The pair of celestial spirits floated closer to her and questioned in unison, "what's wrong, piri-piri?" 

Lucy gave a yelp and jumped up into a sitting position, causing Gemi and Mini to snicker to themselves. They floated in front of their wizard as Lucy finally took notice of them and asked, "Gemini? What are you two doing here?" 

"We're bored..." Gemi answered. 

Mini picked up from where her twin left off, "...so, we came to see you!" 

Lucy smiled at them and opened her arms, saying, "I'm happy to see you both. I'm sorry for not summoning you in a while." 

Gemini happily accepted her hug, enjoying the feeling of their wizard's warm arms wrapping around them. When they pulled away and resumed floating, Gemi asked, "did something happen?" 

They watched as Lucy rubbed her tear-filled eyes and sniffled as she did so. She then looked back at her spirits and answered, "just some boy problem." She waved her hand dismissively, as if telling her spirits that it wasn't a big deal. 

Mini floated closer to lean against Lucy's shoulder, asking, "tell us about it, piri-piri!" 

Gemi leaned against Lucy's other shoulder as he joined in, "yeah, we want to know, piri-piri!" 

They waited as Lucy chuckled and flopped back onto her bed. She sighed before she began, "I embarrassed myself in front of Freed." She then groaned to herself, covering her face with her hands, "I probably ruined any chance I had with him! He probably thinks I'm weird and have some kind of staring problem." 

Gemini leaned closer to her face, inquiring together, "do you really like Freed?" 

Lucy nodded. "I've been in love with him for a year!" 

Gemini simply shared one look with each other before they flew to the middle of the room. They gave a "piri-piri" and transformed. Once the smoke faded, they cooed to their wizard, their voice now possessing a tenor pitch, "Lucy." 

The blonde once again bolted up into a sitting position and whipped her head around to look at her celestial spirits, her mouth dropping open and eyes widening upon seeing who they had transformed into. After several silent moments, she managed to say, "w-what are you doing?" 

Gemini, transformed into Freed, smirked and answered, "we're accessing Freed's thoughts and memories." 

"How are you even able to turn into him? You need to touch someone in order to do that, don't you?" 

"Yeah, and we did recently. Remember the job you went on last week with the Thunder Legion? We were able to touch all three of them." 

"Oh." Lucy looked the transformed Gemini up and down before she snapped her eyes back up to meet theirs and questioned, "wait, why did you transform into him?" 

Gemini strolled close to her until they stood right in front of her. They then hooked a finger under her chin and lifted her face, watching with amusement as a red blush dusted across her cheeks. "To see if Freed loves you too." 

Lucy pushed them away with a flustered yelp. She folded her hands in her lap and looked back at her spirits, muttering, "I don't know about that..." 

Gemini tilted their head. "Why? Don't you want to know if he feeling the same way?" 

"Well, yes, but...it sounds kinda like an invasion of his privacy." 

Gemini hummed before they smiled at her and replied, "at least we'll be able to tell you if you should tell him how you feel! We'll be saving you the rejection!" They didn't wait for Lucy to say anything else before they began their search through Freed's memories and thoughts for how he felt about Lucy. 

However, they frowned when they weren't able to find much of anything. That was weird. They looked back at their wizard when she asked, "is something wrong?" 

Gemini answered, "we are having trouble accessing his memories and thoughts." 

Lucy responded, sounding a bit disappointed, "that's alright. I'll probably confess eventually." She then went back to laying on her stomach on her bed, her head facing away from Gemini. She added, "you two can go back to the Spirit World." 

Gemini, not wanting to give up just yet, silently conversed with each other. After reasoning that they weren't able to access Freed's thoughts and memories due to it having been a while since they last touched him, they quickly decided that what they needed to do was get closer to Freed in order to find out if he loved Lucy back. They quietly sneaked out of the apartment, managing to close the door soundlessly behind them. Once they accomplished this, they transformed into Lucy and made their way to the guild. 

Freed sat at his usual table with his teammates, his book closed and forgotten next to him. His eyes were set on the guildhall's closed doors. He couldn't deny the worry that bubbled within him. Was she alright? He had been reading a book, trying to keep his eyes on the page rather than on her, when Evergreen had gotten his attention and pointed out that Lucy was standing behind him. He had turned around to see that his most recent friend was standing a ways away behind him. She was just staring and, when he got closer to her to talk to her, seemed to be internally panicking. She then just ran out of the guildhall, her face red. 

"What was that about?" 

Freed looked at Evergreen when he heard her question. He was unable to give an answer due to not knowing the answer himself. He gave a shrug and looked back at the doors. He then heard Bixlow laughed, "maybe she was gonna tell you that she loves you and chickened out." 

Freed felt his cheeks warm and his body stilled as Evergreen giggled before she added, "I'm sure Freed would've loved that." 

The rune mage turned his head to look at his teammates again, giving them a glare. This resulted in Evergreen and Bixlow looking back at him before their laughter became renewed. He supposed that his glare didn't hold the fierceness that it usually did because of the obvious blush on his cheeks. 

He rolled his eyes at the two and looked back at the guildhall's doors. Maybe he should go to Lucy's apartment and make sure that she was alright. His mind thought back to his friends' words. He felt a fluttering feeling in his gut at the recollection. He couldn't lie, he wouldn't really be opposed to Lucy confessing to having romantic feelings for him. In fact, he would like for that to happen. He's recently taken notice of his own fast-developing feelings for Lucy. 

Freed gave a short thoughtful hum and stood up, deciding that he was going to make sure that Lucy was alright. Her behavior was strange, worrying even. He muttered to his teammates that he would return soon and made his way down the staircase and to the guildhall's doors. He was just about to open them, when they suddenly opened, causing him to stumble backward, managing to stable himself before he could fall.

He looked up to scold whoever it was that almost caused him to fall, but stopped when he found that it was Lucy. The blonde was standing in front of him, a wide smile on her face. She threw her arms around him as she cheered, "Freed! I'm so happy to see you!" 

Freed felt a blush reappear across his cheeks. His arms were slightly raised at his sides and his brow was furrowed in confusion. What was going on? Not even an hour ago, Lucy was red with embarrassment and had run out of the guildhall in a panic. Why was she suddenly so cheerful and didn't seem bothered by what had happened? 

When she stepped away, Lucy clasped his hands in hers and beamed, "let's spend some time together!" 

Freed hesitated. He and Lucy have been spending quite a bit of time together recently, bonding over a shared love of literature and having annoying teammates, but she's never requested a hangout like this. Whenever she did, she would ask if he would meet her at a certain place at a certain time on a certain day. His suspicions raised, Freed responded slowly, "alright. How about in the library?" 

Lucy nodded her head furiously before she bounded in the direction of the library, dragging Freed behind her. Once they entered the library, Freed managed to take his hand from Lucy's hold and walked over to a table, sitting down as he kept a close eye on the blonde. She was acting strangely, but he didn't want to say something just yet. 

Almost immediately after he sat down, Lucy hopped into the seat next to him. Freed watched as she scooted her chair closer and took hold of his upper arm and nuzzled her cheek against his shoulder. Freed froze where he was sitting, his cheeks burning with a red blush. Butterflies fluttered their wings furiously within his gut and his heartbeat picked up its pace. His mind was suddenly jumbled. Lucy was being more affectionate than she is with her own team. She's snuggling up against him as if she was his girlfriend. 

He was enjoying it, of course he was, but he couldn't ignore how out of character it was for her. The only conclusion he could come to was that this wasn't his Lucy. Managing to regain control of his thoughts, he prayed the fake Lucy off of him and stood up, slowly backing away from her. 

When the fake Lucy stood and started walking toward him, confusion on her face, he took a defensive stance and questioned sternly, "who are you? What did you do with Lucy?" 

The fake Lucy tilted her head slightly, asking, "what do you mean?" 

Freed gritted his teeth. The gull of this person to act like they didn't know what he was talking about. He sneered, "you know what I mean! Why are you impersonating Lucy?" 

The fake Lucy walked closer, but instantly stopped when he drew his rapier and pointed it at her. The blonde laughed and raised her hands defensively, fear clearly seen in her eyes. She responded, "look...it's not what you think." 

"I find that hard to believe." He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. 

Freed was about to attack when the doors to the library burst open, causing both occupants to jump and snap their heads around in the direction of the entrance. Standing there, slightly out of breath, was Lucy. She walked further into the room, toward the fake. Freed was about to stop her and tell her to stay back from the possibly dangerous person, when Lucy crossed her arms over her chest and commanded, "turn back Gemini!" 

Freed dropped his arm that was holding his rapier, eyes wide with disbelief as the fake Lucy disappeared in a puff of smoke, and was replaced with two small, blue, floating creatures. Celestial spirits, he was able to recognize. Gemini flew around Lucy's head, saying in unison, "we were just trying to help, piri-piri!" 

Lucy sighed, "we'll talk about this later. Just go back to the Spirit World until I summon you to talk." 

The pair of spirits poofed away without a single complaint. Freed sheathed his rapier and looked at Lucy with a critical stare, asking, "Lucy?" 

He watched as Lucy glanced at him before she turned away and groaned, "sorry about them, Freed." 

Freed stepped closer to her, his suspicion rapidly easing until it quickly disappeared altogether. He asked, "what were they doing?" 

There was a rather long pause before Lucy sighed, "if I know them as well as I think I do, they were trying to see if you liked me." 

Freed raised an eyebrow. "Like you? Of course I like you." 

"No, romantically like me." She sounded almost exasperated. 

Freed didn't bother to suppress the smirk that made its way onto his face. "I know." Of course he knew what she meant. It was hard not to from how Gemini was acting. 

Lucy turned to him, surprise clearly written on her face. Her mouth was slightly agape and her eyes wide. She managed to get out, "what?" The word was quiet, disbelieving. 

Freed chuckled before he asked, "what do you think about a date?" 

"...you and me?" 

"Yes. A date. You and me." 

I’m sorry for the long wait. I knew this would take some time, so I wanted to get most of my other requests out of the way. Hopefully this meets your expectations and make up for how long it took.

*Deep inhale* I FREAKING LOVE FRELU! 

This ship is one of my Lucy OTPs. I don't know why I love this ship, I just do. I think they look great together, I think they would be amazing friends, and  I think they'd be a great couple. I love them together. This ship is horribly underrated and there are not nearly enough fanfics about them. I adore fanfics that depict them with this light and dark type of theme. Like an angel and a demon. I love those fics. 

I honestly wouldn't be mad if more people requested FreLu *wink wink.*

I don't really have much experience with writing this type of dynamic, so I hope I didn't screw it up too badly. As I previously stated, I'm also aromantic and don't have experience with romance as a whole, so bare with me, please. 

I also wasn't entirely sure what the requester meant by "light and dark theme" so went with what was easiest for me. 

Since I've written the previous one-shots from Lucy's pov, I decided to make this one from Freed's pov with a little of Lucy's sprinkled in.

I hope you enjoy!

Light and Dark (Freed x Lucy)

"Come on, Freed, just tell her already!" Evergreen exclaimed, tired of watching her close friend constantly refuse to confess his feelings for a certain blonde celestial wizard. Freed ignored her, preferring to continue watching the blonde beauty from where he sat on the second floor of the guildhall. 

He blocked out the voices of his two teammates, having heard it all before. He watched as the woman of his affections sat at the bar, sipping her strawberry flavored milkshake and talking idly with Levy. He had no idea when he developed these feelings for Lucy, he just knew that he was in love with her. 

If Freed had to guess, he'd say that he fell for her shortly after the Fantasia Incident. Lucy was the first, and for some time the only, guildmate to forgive the Thunder Legion and accept them back into the guild. Freed was stunned by her kindness and forgiveness. He was sure that she of all people would be furious and refuse to forgive them, but instead, it was the exact opposite. 

He soon noticed that he would watch her every time she stepped into the guild. Every time she came back from a mission, he would inspect her from afar, ensuring that she was unharmed. If she seemed hurt, he would send Wendy to check her while telling the child to not let on that it was he that sent her. 

It didn't take long for Evergreen and Bixlow to find out. After they had finished teasing him and expressing how they had thought that he was gay, the two began trying to convince him to confess his feeling to Lucy. It was in vain, however, as Freed refused to give in to his desires. He was adamant that Lucy does not feel the same. That was all he gave as a reason, though there was another reason that he didn't dare to speak aloud. 

He was terrified that the nature of his dark ecriture, and the demon that fed this magic, would scare her away, make her think that he was some monster, and start to hate him because of it. He was on friendly terms with Lucy, she was kind to him and was always interested in having intellectual conversations with him. Freed couldn't bare the thought of her hating him for any reason, nor could he bare the thought of accidentally scaring her with his magic. 

So, he resolved to bury his feelings for her deep inside of himself and just try to trick himself into thinking that he was perfectly content with watching her from afar. He knew, however, that was a lie. He watched as Lucy got up from her seat at the bar and walked over to the table her destructive team was seated at. She sat next to Erza and began a conversation with her, and then, suddenly, the pyromaniac she calls a best friend came saddling up next to her, throwing his arm around her shoulders and pulling her closer to him. 

Freed felt a stong, familiar pang of jealousy in his stomach. He hated this feeling. He got it every time he saw her interact with Natsu or Gray. He knew that they were both her friends, but he still couldn't help but get agitated whenever they got close to her. How he wished he could get that close to her, but he always had to restrain himself. If he got too close, then he might not be able to hide his feelings for her much longer. He had to do everything he could to prevent her from witnessing his magic. 

He looked away, trying to ignore his demon saying mine and roaring at him to get that flame-throwing idiot away from her and finally confess, trying to will this feeling of jealousy away. Suddenly, a piece of paper was slammed onto the table in front of him. Freed looked up to Bixlow giving him an open-mouthed grin, his guild-marked tongue sticking out. The green-haired mage then looked down to see a job request. He picked it up to take a closer look. It was requesting a couple of mages to come to defeat a dark mage. Apparently, he had placed a barrier around a whole town. Nobody can leave or enter unless they solve a series of riddles and thus break the barrier. The job requested wanted two or more mages, including at least one rune mage, to solve the riddles and defeat the dark mage that had holed himself up somewhere in the town. 

Freed looked up at Bixlow. He raised an eyebrow as he asked calmly, "since when are you interested in riddles?" Bixlow shook his head as he sat down. "It's not for me or Ever. It's for you and Cosplayer." Freed's eyes widened a bit. He quickly looked at Lucy, then back at Bixlow. He furrowed his brow as he hissed, "what do you mean?" Evergreen spoke up, "you and Lucy are going to go on that mission together. Maybe that'll give you the confidence to finally tell her how you feel." Freed sat the job request down and shook his head. As much as I would like that, it's too risky. Bixlow and Evergreen then gave each other a look and silently nodded to each other. 

Evergreen picked up the job request, stood up, and made her way down to the first floor of the guildhall. Freed watched in confusion as the fairy mage approached Lucy. He then began to internally panic as he started to think about what kind of things Evergreen could be telling the celestial wizard, none of which he liked. Then watched as Lucy accepted the job request and made her way up to the second floor. Freed kept his back turned towards Lucy, silently hoping she wouldn't walk up to him. This hope, however, was quickly crushed as he felt a light tap on his shoulder and he turned around to see the most beautiful woman he had ever laid his cerulean eyes on. 

Lucy gave him the most lovely smile as she held up the job request. "Evergreen told me that you like riddles and that you want to go on this mission, but she and Bixlow aren't up for it. Would you like to go with me? It'd be a great chance for us to get to know each other better and maybe become better friends." Freed swallowed, a vain attempt to relieve his dry throat. His demon was demanding that he say yes. Every part of his body was screaming at him to say yes. He knew that it went against what he had decided long ago, not to let her see his magic or his darkness, but he just couldn't say no to this angel. He nodded his head in agreement, not being able to trust his own words. Lucy beamed in happiness as she headed off to get Mira to approve of the request, but not before telling Freed that he should pack whatever he thought he would need in order to camp outside and to meet her at the train station at nine in the morning the next day. 

Freed watched her leave. He then turned to glare at his teammates. He mentally cursed them as well as himself as he stood and left the guild, heading to the house he shared with the rest of the Thunder Legion to pack and mentally prepare himself for the moment he would have to use his dark ecriture in front of Lucy. The moment she'll start to fear him and possibly even hate him.

Freed tried his best not to look at Lucy as they sat next to each other on the train that was taking them to their mission. He tried to ignore the fluttering feeling in his gut as he listened to the blonde's humming and periodic page-turning. He didn't need to look at her to tell that she was engrossed in her book. He kept his eyes locked on the window next to him. Normally, he wouldn't like it if someone was making such noise right next to him, but he found that since it was Lucy, he didn't mind at all. In fact, he found it to be quite relaxing. 

Suddenly, he heard Lucy's lovely voice speak up, "Hey, you don't mind my humming, do you? It's something I do out of habit." Freed spared a glance at her and shook his head, silently telling her that he had no problem with it. Lucy smiled at that and continued her reading and humming. 

After some time had passed, the conductor's voice came on through the speaker, "next stop, the city of Ging." Freed gave a silent sigh of relief, once they get off at Ging they'll walk the rest of the way to Cypher, the cursed town, and set up camp right outside, that is, if they feel the need to. Lucy had earlier summoned Virgo to keep their things in the celestial spirit world, stating that if they need to stay the night then she can summon Virgo and have her set up for them. This is so that the two of them don't have to waste time by traveling between two places every morning and night. He had to admit, the compartment they were in was quite cramped and wasn't helping his situation.

Lucy closed her book with a small sigh and looked up at Freed. She waited for him to feel her brown gaze on him and turn to look at her before speaking, "you like riddles, huh? I love riddles." Freed nodded his head. "Riddles are very good brain teasers. They are quite fun. I especially enjoy watching someone dimwitted like Bixlow struggle to solve them. It is fairly amusing." Lucy giggled at his statement and Freed felt himself blush at the harmonious sound.

The celestial wizard then asked, "what is so fragile that saying its name breaks it?" Freed recognized what she was doing. He couldn't help but smirk a little. Trying to test me, huh? He was happy to play along. "That's easy. The answer is silence." Lucy clapped her hands. Freed then gave his own riddle, "I turn once, what is out will not get in. I turn again, what is in will not get out. What am I?" Lucy gave him a smug smirk. "A key." Freed nodded his head twice. 

"The person who makes it has no need for it; the person who buys it has no use for it. The person who uses it can neither see nor feel it. What is it?" 

Freed answered her riddle with "a coffin." 

It was then his turn to riddle her. "A man looks at a painting in a museum and says, "Brothers and sisters, I have none, but that man's father is my father's son." Who is in the painting?"

Lucy made a 'hmmm' sound as she thought about it. After only a few seconds, she pipped up with her answer, "The man's son."

"Correct." Freed watched as she beamed with pride, proud with herself that she got all his riddles so far right. He felt his cheeks heat up at the cute sight and turned his head away, pretending to be watching the fields and trees pass by the window. "I believe it's your turn, Lucy." 

For the rest of the train ride, the two Fairy Tail mages continued on with their back and forth riddling. By the time they stepped off of the train, the two were both pleased with themselves, for neither of them had gotten a single riddle incorrect. 

They began to make their way to Cypher as their riddling with each other turned into a long conversation about each of their teams. Freed was unhappy to learn that Lucy's team had a terrible habit of breaking into her apartment. I'll offer to put up runes around her apartment once we return to Magnolia, Freed thought to himself as he listened to her talk. 

They soon arrived at a town, sitting alone in what appeared to be the middle of nowhere. Freed and Lucy stood right outside, they saw nobody out and about. Lucy made a slight humming sound as she approached. "Maybe the dark mage has made them too scared to leave their homes." She was suddenly stopped by an invisible force. She held her nose, groaning in slight pain from hitting her nose on the barrier that she ran into. Freed rushed towards her, worried that she had been harmed. "Are you alright?" Lucy waved him off, releasing her nose. Freed guessed that it was only a very brief pain. He took a step back away from her. 

He and Lucy turned their gazes up to the barrier. Almost floating in mid-air, were directions, followed by the first riddle that they had to solve. Freed stepped closer as he read the directions aloud, "In order to relieve this town of its imprisonment, a rune mage must write into the barrier their answer to each riddle. Only when each is answered correctly will the town be free. Nobody except for the original caster of this curse may enter or leave the town of Cypher." 

He hummed in thought as Lucy read the first riddle, "A man stands on one side of a river, his dog on the other. The man calls his dog, who immediately crosses the river without getting wet and without using a bridge or a boat. How did the dog do it?"

The two mages looked at each other, they then looked away and thought about the riddle. Freed cast his eyes to the barren ground. If the dog didn't use a bridge or a boat to cross a river, then how did it not get wet? How else can you cross a river without getting wet? Just as he finished that thought, he heard Lucy gasp. He looked over at her and saw that she was smiling at him in triumph. Freed raised an eyebrow, silently telling her to share her thought with him. Lucy stated simply, "the river was frozen." Freed smiled down at her proudly. It's very simple. Of course. Sometimes simple is better. As he had that thought, he stepped closer, raising his finger to write the answer into the barrier. He and Lucy watched the words shifted and changed. 

He read out loud the new words that formed, "Your answer was correct. Four more riddles to go. There is a word in the English language in which the first two letters signify a male, the first three letters signify a female, the first four signify a great man, and the whole word, a great woman. What is the word?" 

Freed narrowed his eyes. Work backward. A great woman. What is a word that is specific to a great woman? He pondered for a moment until he realized the answer. He thought it through, applying the riddle to his answer. Once he was sure, he raised his finger and wrote his answer. He heard Lucy read Freed's writing, muttering to herself, "heroine. That makes sense." The words once again changed. 

It was Lucy's turn to read the new riddle. "You're escaping a labyrinth and there are three exits. Exit A leads to an inferno. Exit B leads to an assassin. Exit C leads to a lion that hasn't eaten in 3 years. Which exit do you pick?" Almost immediately the two mages said in unison, "Exit C. If a lion hasn't eaten in 3 years, it has definitely starved to death." The two looked at each other in surprise. Freed smiled. "Already heard this one?" Lucy giggled as she nodded. "Had Natsu stumped for two days." Freed let out a chuckle. He spoke as he wrote the answer on the barrier, "Bixlow and Evergreen argued over what the answer was for about two hours. They finally stopped when Laxus explained it to them." Lucy laughed at that. Freed felt himself blush at the sound. How he loved her laugh. 

The words once again changed. Freed read it, "I weaken all men for hours each day. I show you strange visions while you are away. I take you by night, by day take you back. None suffer to have me, but do from my lack. What am I?" 

After a minute or two of thinking, Lucy finally spoke, "sleep. The answer is sleep." Freed nodded and wrote the answer. Predictably, Lucy was right and the words changed once again. Freed and Lucy were relieved to be at the final riddle. Lucy read it, "Three gods, A, B, and C, are called, in some order, True, False, and Random. True always speaks truly, False always speaks falsely, but whether Random speaks truly or falsely is completely random. You must determine the identities of A, B, and C by asking three yes-or-no questions, and each question must be posed to exactly one god. The gods understand English but will answer all questions in their own language. In their unknown language, the words for "yes" and "no" are "da" and "ja," in some order. You do not know which word means which. Which questions would you ask to identify each god?" 

Freed stared down at his feet. He had no idea how to answer this riddle. He looked over at Lucy, only to see that she was just as stumped as he was, staring at the words with eyes narrowed as if they would somehow rearrange themselves to freely give the answer. Freed moved his gaze back to his feet. The two stood there, deep in thought, trying desperately to come up with the answer so they can release the town, find the dark mage, and defeat him. Freed felt himself getting increasingly frustrated with the riddle, unable to come up with a single answer. He jumped a little when he felt Lucy place her hand on his shoulder. He looked back at her, silently urging her to give an answer. 

Lucy softly explained, "To god A: 'Does 'da' mean 'yes' if and only if you are True and if and only if B is Random?' If A says 'ja' then that makes B True or False." Freed turned his whole body to face her. With that first answer from the blonde angel, he quickly came up with another answer to accompany the first, "To god B: 'Does "da" mean 'yes' if and only if Pluto is a dwarf planet?' If B says 'da' then B is True." 

Freed whipped around and began writing on the barrier with his finger. He spoke over his shoulder to Lucy, "give me one more." Lucy took a few moments to think before responding, "And to god B again: 'Does 'da' mean 'yes' if and only if A is Random?' Since B's True, he must say 'da,' which means A is Random, leaving C to be False." Freed nodded his head as he wrote furiously. It made sense to him. Once he finished, he took a step back, hoping that they were right. 

To the pair's delight, the barrier glowed a vibrant blue just before it dissipated. Freed and Lucy looked at each other, then back at the town. The two mages slowly approached where the barrier once stood. They both breathed a sigh of relief when they weren't stopped. Freed glanced at Lucy. "We need to find the mayor. Maybe they know where the dark mage is." Lucy nodded. The two walked beside each other, Freed trying to keep as much distance as he can without seeming suspicious. 

After much walking, they had found the mayor and got as much information about the dark mage out of him as they could. All they learned was that the dark mage was underneath the town, hidden within a series of tunnels. They didn't know the extent of his magic, only that he was specialized in rune magic. Freed and Lucy walked through a tunnel, hearing only the echoes of their footfalls. They soon came upon two tunnels that went in opposite directions. Lucy turned to the green-haired mage. "You go left, I'll go right." Freed shook his head. "Too dangerous, we should stick together." Lucy rolled her eyes. "I have my spirits, and you're stranger than I am. I'm sure we'll both be fine. If either of us find him, then we'll yell, or make some type of noise. These tunnels are quite echoy." Freed sighed. He didn't have good feeling about this, but he knew that Lucy could take care f herself. Not mention if she did yell, he would definantly hear her. He nodded and watched her run into the right tunnel. He stood there for a few seconds before he ran into the tunnel on the left. 

He hadn't gotten that far when he heard a feminine scream. He froze in place. The scream was a scream of pain. Lucy was in pain. His demon roared in fury. Furious that someone dared to harm her. Freed turned and sprinted out of the tunnel and into the other one. He gritted his teeth, pushing himself to run faster, to reach her as quickly as possible and protect her. He came to a stop when he reached an open space. He found Lucy on the ground, groaning in pain from a gash in her side. Walking away from the celestial wizard was a brown-haired man dressed in black, twirling a keyring full of gold and silver keys around his finger. Freed released a low growl, losing all self-control he had as his demon, his "darkness," forced its way into control. 

He launched himself at the dark mage, drawing his rapier. He stood in front of the dark mage, his right eye uncovered and having already turned black, while his iris was purple. He raised his rapier. "Dark Ecriture: Fear." Upon casting the spell, the dark mage fell to his knees, whimpering and shaking in pure fear. After letting the man suffer from the intense fear that was cast upon him for several minutes, Freed raised his rapier once again. He spoke strongly, "Dark Ecriture: Pain." The dark mage immediatly began to howl in pain. 

The torture went on for several more minutes. Freed struggled to keep himself from casting runes on himself and transforming. Pain and Fear will be enough. Then, I'll use Death on this bastard. He raised his rapier once more, prepared to end the life of the man that harmed the woman he loved. "Dark Ecriture: Dea-."

"Freed! Stop!" Before he could finish the spell, Freed was snapped out of his rage filled trance. He looked to see Lucy staring at him, a look in her eyes that he couldn't read. He quickly covered his right eye and released the dark mage of the spell he had cast. He watched as Lucy staggered her way to him. He dropped his rapier. "Stay away from me, Lucy!" The blonde continued making her way towards him. Freed was frozen were he stood, unable to step way from her. Suddenly, Lucy stumbled, but before she could fall to the ground, Freed rushed forward, catching her and setting her down gently. He found that Lucy had already tore part of her shirt off and pressed it to her wound. 

Freed's eyes widened in panic. Not only was the woman he loved hurt because he wasn't there to protect her, but he was sure that he had scared her. He pressed on the wound, trying to come up with a solution, when he stammered out, "I-I'm so sorry, Lucy. I'm sorry t-that I wasn't here. I-I'm sorry that I scared you-."

"Scared me?" Lucy questioned, her voice surprisingly strong considering her current state. Freed looked at her. He muttered, "my-my magic. It-it's...I was confident that it would scare you if...if you ever saw me use it." Lucy chuckled, but was cut short due to pain. She placed a hand on his cheek. She spoke, her chocolate-colored eyes meeting his, "why would I be scared of you magic? I love you to much to fear anything about you." 

Freed released a small gasp at her confession. He searched her eyes for any indication that she didn't mean what she said, that she really was scared of what she had just witnessed, but he found nothing but love and pain. Love for him and pain from both her wound and learning that he believed she would ever be scared of him. He couldn't believe what he had heard. He thought he was undeserving of her. He thought that a kind and angel like her would never want to be anything akin to romantic partners with him, a demon that had betrayed his own guild not too long ago. 

Suddenly, Freed felt something soft and warm on his lips. It took him a few moments to realize that Lucy was kissing him. He responded to the kiss, pressing his own lips against hers gently. They soon pulled apart. 

Freed stood and stepped towards his rapier. He picked it up, quickly cast runes on the dark mage that had fallen unconscious, constructing a barrier around him to ensure that he wouldn't escape. The male Fairy Tail mage went back to Lucy, gently picking her up. Lucy spoke up, "wait...what about him?" Freed shook his head. "I'm taking you to a doctor. I'll come back for him later, but you're more important." He than made his away out of the tunnels and to the town's doctor. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I hope you liked it! This turned out longer than intended, more than 4000 words! I don't know if I'll ever top this!

I got the inspiration to write this during a thunderstorm because I'm terrified of storms. You can view this as a sequel to Light or Dark if you want to, or not. Whichever you want.

I hope you enjoy!

Thunderstorm Comfort (Freed x Lucy)

Lucy sat at a table with her team. As she sipped on the strawberry milkshake in her hand and watched Natsu and Gray fighting she heard a loud clap of thunder that was slightly muffled by the loud guildmates around her. She looked at one of the windows next to the guildhall doors to see a few flashes of lightning. She turned her attention back to the two young men that were practically throttling each other. Erza finally had enough and stood up, banging Natsu and Gray's heads together and effectively shutting the two up. 

Lucy chuckled. She sat her now empty cup down and stood up. She walked to the stairs that led to the second floor of the guildhall and ascended them. She began making her way to the Thunder Legion's table with the intention of annoying her green-haired boyfriend, but quickly stopped in her tracks when she saw that he wasn't sitting with his three friends. 

Lucy approached Laxus, Evergreen, and Bixlow, asking, "where's Freed?"

The three looked at her welcomingly as Laxus responded, "hello to you too, Blondie."

Lucy rolled her eyes goodhumouredly as Laxus and the other two mages with him chuckled. "hello, you three," Lucy finally greeted. 

"Hey, Blondie."

"What's shaken, Cosplayer?"

"Nice to see you, Lucy."

Lucy asked her previous question again, "where's Freed?"

Evergreen was the one that spoke this time, "you mean your 'demon'?" She followed this counterquestion with a light laugh. 

Lucy once again rolled her eyes. She didn't know how Laxus, Evergreen, and Bixlow found out that Freed's nickname for her was his 'angel' and Lucy's nickname was her 'demon,' but she greatly wished she could find out who told them and unleash Aquarius on them since Freed's teammates can't seem to forget it. 

The blonde crossed her arms over her chest and gave the three mages in front of her a glare. Bixlow was the one that relented, "he's at our place."

Lucy raised an eyebrow. "why? Is he feeling alright?"

Bixlow shrugged as Laxus answered, "he just said that he didn't want to go anywhere." He gestured with his head to Evergreen and Bixlow as he added, "We just assumed that he was tired and wanted to sleep in." 

Lucy nodded and muttered a "thank you" as she walked back down the stairs. She knew that she was probably being silly, but she couldn't get rid of the feeling that something was wrong. She walked back to the table where Natsu, Gray, and Erza were sitting at. It appeared as though they had gotten two job requests while she had walked away and were discussing the jobs. 

Lucy sat down next to Gray, across from Natsu and Erza. Gray asked the blonde mage, "where'd you go?" 

Lucy answered simply, "I was just curious as to where Freed was." 

Gray nodded and turned his attention to the job requests that rest on the wooden table. Erza looked up at Lucy, asking, "we're trying to decide which of these jobs we will take once the weather clears." 

Lucy looked at the two job requests. One was requesting a few mages to capture a small group of dark mages that has been robbing townspeople and disappearing without a trace. The reward was five-hundred-thousand jewel. The other job request wanted some mages to kill three wyverns that were killing livestock in a large farming village. The reward for this job was seven-hundred-thousand jewel. 

Lucy watched as the team argued over which job was better for the four of them. She would have joined in the argument, but she couldn't focus on anything but the feeling of worry that had settled itself in her stomach. She tried to shake off the thought, but she just couldn't stop thinking about how she should check on her boyfriend. 

She tried to tell herself that he was fine. 

That he was safe at his home. 

But the urge to rush to him wouldn't go away. 

Finally, Lucy stood up and walked to the bar. She waved Mira over and asked, "can I borrow a communication lacrima?" 

Mira nodded as she handed her blonde friend that crystal ball-like device. Lucy walked along the bar until she got to the end. She opened a door that led to a closet full of cleaning supplies. She entered the small closet and closed the wooden door, happy that the noise from her guildmates' brawling and talking was muffled just enough for her to be able to talk to Freed when she called him. 

Lucy held up the communication lacrima, channeling some of her magic into it, and waited for her boyfriend to answer. As she waited, she told herself that Freed would answer his communication lacrima, a bit agitated that someone woke him up, and assure her that he was perfectly fine. Lucy was sure that he would even suggest that she come to his place and join him in his sleeping fest. 

She smiled at that thought. She then noticed that Freed had yet to answer. That's weird. Lucy tried to call him again. After a few minutes of waiting, there was still no answer. 

No agitated 'yes?'

No 'what might I do for you, My Angel?'

Not even a 'who must I curse for harming you?' that he has given on a few occasions where Lucy was visibly upset while calling him.

Nothing. 

Lucy's feeling of worry increased drastically. Something was obviously wrong. 

She rushed out of the closet of cleaning supplies, setting Mira's communication lacrima onto the bar, and rushed out of the guildhall while ignoring the calls of her teammates. She rushed into the pouring rain. Wasting no time, she ran as fast as her legs would allow her to the house that Laxus, Freed, Evergreen, and Bixlow shared. 

She quickly became incredibly cold due to the freezing rain and wind. Her black mini skirt and crop top weren't of any help. Thunder crashed above her and lightning lit up the sky many times as she came upon the two-story house that she had visited several times during the six months that she and Freed had been dating. She reached for the doorknob and attempted to twist it, only to find that the door was locked. She cursed under her breath and tried to think of a way to get to her boyfriend as the thunder and lightning continued to rage and the cold rain continued to beat down on her. 

As the feeling of worry and the urge to have her boyfriend in her arms grew stronger, the blonde decided that she was fine with paying for the Thunder Legion to get their door fixed. With a muttered, "screw it" Lucy drew up her leg, bringing her knee towards her. She then delivered a hard front kick to the locked area of the door. It broke up with a loud bang. 

The celestial wizard entered the dark house. She wasted no time in running up the stairs and locating Freed's bedroom. She grasped the cold metal doorknob in her hand and turned it. Another locked door. Not wanting to cause any more unnecessary damage, she knocked softly on the bedroom door and spoke clearly, "Freed? Are you okay? You didn't answer your communication lacrima when I called you." 

No response.

Lucy knocked again, this time louder. "Freed? Sweetheart, are you alright?"

Again, no response. 

Now Lucy's worry was through the roof. 

She pressed her ear to the surface of the wooden door. She strained to hear something, anything that would indicate her boyfriend was inside his bedroom. After what felt like several long and agonizing hours, Lucy heard something.

Whimpering. 

She heard Freed whimpering in what she could only identify as fear. 

Lucy remembered that Freed had a window in his room. She ran back outside and around the house to the back, praying to whatever deity there was that the window would be unlocked. Looking up she saw a lone window sitting high up the outside wall, too high for her to reach on her own. 

She reached into the pouch that she wore on her belt and pulled out two golden keys. She stared at the key to Taurus' gate and the key to Capricorn's gate, trying to decide which of them was her taller spirit. She concluded that not only was Capricorn taller, but she would also rather have him lift her to the window than Taurus. Putting Taurus' key back onto her keyring, Lucy pointed Capricorn's key outwards. "Open! Gate of the Seagoat: Capricorn!" 

The humanoid goat dressed as a butler dutifully appeared. With a bow, he asked, "are you in need of assistance, My Lady?" 

Lucy looked up at her celestial spirit, the determination to reach her distressed boyfriend evident in her dark brown eyes. "I'm sorry to summon you while it's raining, Capricorn, but I need you to lift me to that window," she pointed up at the window before dropping her arm and looking back at the well-dressed goatman. 

Capricorn nodded in understanding as he replied, "I do not mind the rain, My Lady. Please turn around and I will lift you up." 

Lucy did as he requested. She felt Capricorn wrap his fur-covered hands around her waist and lifted her up she was able to pry the window open and pull herself onto the windowsill. She waved her thanks to Capricorn and watched the celestial spirit disappear with a nod. 

The blonde slid into the dark bedroom, resting her soaked, mud-covered feet on the off-white carpet. I'm definitely going to have to clean their house when this storm is over, she thought with a grimace as she closed the window behind her.

Lucy looked at the dark blue blanketed bed and walked closer to it. She could clearly see the human-sized lump under the covers. As she approached the side of the bed, thunder crashed and lightning flashed, causing the lump to visibly jump with a muffled yelp, fearful whimpers followed. 

Lucy's eyes stung with tears. Why didn't Freed tell her that he was terrified of storms? She gently sat on the edge of the bed next to her boyfriend. He was covered entirely with the dark blue comforter. Lucy slowly placed a hand on where she assumed was Freed's shoulder was, but pulled her hand back when he jumped at the sudden contact. 

After a few minutes, she placed her hand back on the spot that she had pulled it away from. When Freed didn't jump this time, she softly said, "Freed? It's Lucy. I'm here."

There were several moments of silence before Freed slowly peeked the upper part of his face above the comforter. Lucy smiled sweetly at him despite the pain that stabbed her heart when she noticed the tears in Freed's cerulean eyes and that he was trembling. 

She heard Freed manage to whimper out, "L-Lucy." It was barely there, but she was still able to catch it. 

She ran her fingers through her boyfriend's soft green hair. Suddenly, a clap of thunder rang through the sound of the pouring rain as lightning accompanied it. Before she could even blink, Lucy was on the carpeted floor with Freed laying on top of her, whimpering and sniffling into her soaking wet crop top. 

Lucy wrapped her arms around her boyfriend, rocking back and forth as she hummed to him, hoping that it would give him some comfort. Eventually, Freed had calmed, now only trembling from fear, and possibly from how cold Lucy was bound to be. 

Lucy ran her fingers through her boyfriend's hair again and whispered to him, "would you like to get into bed?" Upon Freed's response of a simple nod, the blonde mage helped him to his feet and into his bed. She pulled the covers over him but was soon stopped from doing anything else when Freed placed his shaking hand over her cold one. 

Lucy looked at him. Freed was staring at her with tear-filled, pleading eyes as he whispered, "please...hold me." 

Lucy gave him a loving smile as she nodded. "of course, my love. Can I change my clothes first?" 

Freed answered with a "hurry" before releasing his girlfriend's hand. Lucy hurriedly went to the dresser and pulled out one of Freed's shirts. She walked into the bathroom and found a towel. After taking off her soaked top and skirt, she dried her hair along with the rest of her body. Once done, she slipped on Freed's black t-shirt that he had especially for her.

Another crash of thunder and flash of lightning caused Freed to yell in fear, "Lucy!" At that, the blonde woman rushed over to her boyfriend and ducked under the covers with him. 

She held her boyfriend tightly to her chest and rubbed his back with one hand while with her other hand she ran her fingers through his hair. She whispered soothing words to him. Freed clung to her as though she would disappear if he let go, leaving him to deal with his fear alone. He buried his face into her chest, taking comfort in her warmth and gentleness. 

Freed and Lucy managed to fall asleep, holding each other tightly, with no intention to let go until the wretched storm passed. 

Freed peeked his eyes open when he felt the warm rays of the morning sun on his face. He could feel himself being held in a pair of warm arms as his head rested on a pair of warm, soft breasts covered by a t-shirt. He looked up to see his beautiful girlfriend, still sleeping. He was able to recall the night prior when a storm had unexpectedly hit, leaving Freed a trembling, whimpering mess underneath his bedcovers. He also recalled that Lucy had come over to see him. Why she wanted to visit him while it was pouring, he didn't know. Somehow she had known that he was in distress and went so far as to climb through his window just to get to him. Then, when she found him, she held him and comforted him through the storm. Freed's stomach fluttered and his face warmed at that thought and a smile spread across his face. 

His girlfriend truly was an angel. He didn't deserve her. Freed could only guess at what he had done that caused him to be blessed with Lucy as his girlfriend. 

He was brought out of his thoughts by Lucy's stirring. He sat up as she did. He watched as the blonde yawned cutely and rubbed her eyes. She then turned to him and smiled at him. God, how Freed loved her beautiful smile. 

Lucy asked him softly, "how are you feeling, My Demon?" She rubbed her hand up and down his arm soothingly. 

Freed smiled back at her. He pulled her into his arms and allowed her to nuzzle her face into the crook of his neck as he answered, "much better now that you're with me, My Angel." 

They stayed in this position for a few minutes before Lucy pulled away. Freed wanted to pull her back, but knew that she wanted to ask something from the worry in her enchanting brown eyes. The blonde asked, her voice but a whisper, "why didn't you tell me that you were scared of thunderstorms? Does your team know?" 

Freed sighed. He flopped back down onto the bed and opened his arms, signaling to his girlfriend that he wanted to hold her. Once Lucy was snuggly settled in his arms, her head resting on top of his chest, Freed gave his answer, "You are the only person that knows. Not even my team is aware of my fear. As for why I never told you, I was afraid that you would judge me for having such a ridiculous fear." 

Lucy propped herself up on her arms that rested on Freed's bare chest. She looked him in the eye with such a gentle and loving look that Freed melted inside. His girlfriend spoke, "Freed, I would never judge you for something like a fear you have. It's not ridiculous. I love you, Freed, and nothing will ever change that. I want to be with you every time there is a thunderstorm so I can hold you and comfort you. I love you. You're my demon knight. My demonic protector. But, even a protector needs to be protected every once in a while. I'm more than happy to take on that role." 

Freed whispered an "I love you too" and pulled her into a passionate, love-filled kiss. He was convinced that he was somehow dating an actual angel. They pulled apart and gazed lovingly into each other's eyes. Lucy then laid back down on Freed's chest as he wrapped his arms tightly around her, pulling her as close to him as he could. 

Blissful silence passed before Freed finally said to her what he had been wanting to say for a month now, "I'd like the two of us to move in together. Into our own place."

He waited anxiously for an answer. Finally, Lucy responded, joy filling her melodious voice, "I would love that."

Freed's smile widened. The couple continued to be snuggled together in blissful silence. Comfortable in each other's arms and in the love that they shared. 

Worst thing about having bar crawling friends is not being one yourself. Freed was always dragged along on his friends endeavors and while it wasn’t something he would choose to do himself, he didn’t mind the loud music and sweaty people as long as they were around.

Another weekend, another party. Bixlow dragged freed to a new location, this time without the others. Freed didn’t understand this, but went along with it anyhow.

“My girl works at this bar… it’s kinda… special. It’s underground if you know what I mean. I woulda told laxus and ever to come along, but i didn’t think it was really their style.” Bixlow explained in a hushed tone as they walked down a dark alleyway.

Freed rolled his eyes at a scampering rat splashing through an old rainpuddle littered with cigarette butts.

“Ah, and yet somehow you thought it was mine?” He asked condescendingly.

Bixlow laughed boisterously, his voice echoing off the brick walls around them.

“Oh, this is just the walk of shame. The place itself is totally wicked, I swear.” He drew a quick cross over his heart in a shitty attempt to appease the clearly disgruntled man beside him.

Freed heavy sighed and crossed his arms over his chest.

“Well, alright. What exactly makes this place ‘special’ if I may ask?” He inquired warily.

“You’re about to find out, 'cause we’re already here.” Bixlow held out his arms wide in presentation before a small iron door with no handle. In the center of the door was a covered opening that freed just knew was going to be used to transfer a strange password like in all of those cheesy movies.

Bixlow knocked 3 times and sure enough, a man with studded brows and piercing red eyes slid open the slot.

“No password, no entry.” He greeted gruffly.

Freed cringed at the predictability. This place was going to be horribly cliche, he could feel it in his bones.

Bixlow smirked and leaned in close to the door.

“Tell kitten that her Prince has arrived.” He announced smugly.

The man behind the door groaned and slammed the iron shutter. For a brief moment loud music could be heard, but just as soon as it appeared it was gone.

A moment later the shutter reopened and a young girl with snow white hair and icy blue eyes peered through the slot at the pair. Upon seeing bixlow she giggled and slammed the slot shut. The heavy door heaved open, her small body doing it’s best to shove the damn thing open.

Bixlow and freed slipped in and kitten released the door, the heavy metal slamming shut behind her. Her arms flew up and around him.

“Bixxyyyy!” She cooed affectionately as she rubbed her face into his chest.

“Sup kitten. This is my pal freed. Think ya can hook him up with some good entertainment?” He asked with a wink.

She beamed and grabbed freed’s hand.

“Of course! I know just the girl!” She dragged the pair to another door a few feet away and pulled it open. Music blared loudly, and lights danced across the room in a multitude of colors. Girls in various costumes danced and sang on stage while others served food and drink. There were couches and tables where men were chatting comfortably with females dressed to the nines.

“Kitten” as bixlow had called her was wearing a short black strapless dress with matching heels. All of the girls were very pretty, but freed had a feeling that bixlow had just lead him into some sort of illegal underground brothel and honestly he was more than a little nervous.

“Wait here! I’ll go get Star!” She released their hands and waved excitedly behind her as she skipped away behind a curtain towards the back.

“So, kitten, was it?” Freed asked curiously, trying to get rid of his nerves.

“That’s just her work name. Her name’s lisanna. Star, the girl she is getting for you is cool. Her real name’s Lucy. You’ll like her. She’s laid back like you.” He explained. It was then that freed understood why bixlow had brought only him here.

Freed never pinned bixlow as the match maker type.

“What about laxus and ever? I find that this establishment is exactly their thing.” He pried.

Bixlow smirked and pointed to the bar where laxus and ever sat beside a woman, whom looked very much like lisanna, only with long hair. There was also a man beside ever whom was 4 times her size and had hair just as snowy white as the girls’.

“Laxus is with lisanna’s sister, Mira and ever is with their brother, elfman. I guess you could say… you’re the last to know.”

Before freed could respond, a woman with long blonde hair and honey brown eyes took his hand. She wore a knee length, flowing ruby red halter dress.

“I’m star. It’s nice to meet you freed. Let’s go somewhere quiet where we can chat. I can’t wait to get to know you.” She smiled sweetly and began leading him away while lisanna and bixlow waved after them.