Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail (Hiro Mashima does), because if I did, Laxus would have never left at the end of the Battle of Fairy Tail arc and make me cry buckets. He's too hot for that exile crap, even if he was granted return at the end. This disclaimer shall stand for the rest of the story, thank you very much. Enjoy and please, leave a review at the end! (:

Decoding

Laxus Dreyer was entirely too many things: too hot, too rich, too manipulating. And he has his sights set out for a certain, unsuspecting Heartfillia.

Chapter One

And The Game Begins

Lucy rolled her shoulders tiredly after she filed the last of the patient information papers into a file folder. After feeling a pop from her back, she sighed and stretched. Working as a receptionist in a small, successful, privately-owned animal clinic wasn't exactly a bag of excitement, but she loved interacting with of the regular patients—the animals. Plus she enjoyed helping out the Strauss siblings that hired her.

Being a receptionist was fairly easy, even with the tedious paperwork.

It was only four-thirty anyway, and the sky was still a brilliant shade of golden yellow. Lucy often came to the clinic afterschool to earn some money for the apartment she rented as well as saving up for the tremendous fee needed to get into Fairy Tail High School. Lucy has been saving up money ever since she ran away from home, just in case she failed the entrance exam for the upcoming semester.

But of course, even that wouldn't be enough. She just have to pass the exam.

"Thank you so much Mira-nee, Carla's feeling a lot better now." A small, blue pigtailed girl came out of the checkup room with her white cat in her arms. She bounced over to Lucy and bowed. "You have a nice day, Lucy-san!"

Lucy giggled at the twelve year old, "You too, Wendy."

"Lucy? You know you don't have to come here every day and work yourself so hard," Mirajane, the owner of the animal clinic and friend, scolded Lucy in a soft tone when she came out of the back room. "You haven't gotten any rest since you started studying for that exam."

Mirajane Strauss was one of the three and the oldest of the Strauss siblings. Mirajane took over the family clinic when she graduated high school, and has been running it with her younger sister, Lisanna, and brother, Elfman ever since.

Lucy rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly at the white-haired beauty and smiled, "Ah, it's not a problem, Mira-san! The exams are over now, plus Elfman is still at judo practice, so I figured I should come here and help out."

"But you've been here every day of the week, Lucy! I should raise your pay if you continue to come so often."

"That's completely unnecessary, Mira-san!" Lucy widened her eyes. Her pay was good enough as it was for only needing to show up four out of the seven days in a week—Mira had made sure to give her a little extra for her savings, and that was why Lucy wanted to help out more often. She was already overpaid.

"Then you should go home and rest. I insist, Lucy." Mirajane said to the sixteen-year old blond. Her short, upward ponytail swayed to the left with the movement of her head tilt as she watched the blond grab her belongings slowly in defeat. Mira smiled; Lucy was like a little sister to her, and she wanted nothing more than Lucy's wellbeing.

Lucy heaved a sigh as she stepped out into the street. It was so typical for Mirajane to fuss over her health, which she can firmly assure, that she was more than fine. Mira has been like this ever since she learned about her escape from home and the fact that she's living alone.

Really, there was no need for anyone to baby her around. She was Lucy Heartfilla, strong and perfectly capable of taking care of herself.

"Someone please catch this robber! He has stolen my purse, help!"

Lucy cracked her knuckles when she spotted the purse snatcher running her way; it was a good thing Elfman taught her some self-defense judo moves, too.

. . .

Laxus Dreyar was bored.

With his soundPod neglected on his neck, he was staring out the limo window with a lack of interest. To his right, a man with waist-length green hair typed away on his computer.

As the Student Body President of Fairy Tail High School, an elite school for the rich, Laxus was given many liberties. He can do as he pleased and everyone would worship him. No one would dare go against his words as he was the heir to the powerful Dreyar Corps as well as the grandson of the school's headmaster, Makarov.

But the school has been so…bland lately.

Under normal circumstances, Laxus would have a few beautiful girls surrounding him in the limo, entertaining him as he pleased. But those girls had become boring no matter how often he switched them around. Most of them are daughters of rich businessmen, but, with so many of them swarming around him all the time, they've become painfully dull.

"Laxus."

Laxus looked away from the window briefly to his green-haired Vice President. "What is it, Freed?"

"I've taken care of the list of the students who passed the entrance exam for the next semester," Freed replied, used to Laxus' polite-but-menacing-without-trying responses. "There are eleven. Would you like to look over them?"

"How many of them have perfect scores?"

"Only two."

"Then just show me the two," Laxus said absentmindedly. Ever since his old man started the scholar-funding program, more and more commoners were trying to squeeze their way into the elite school. It was completely absurd, so it was up to him to keep as many of them out as possible. As the Vice President typed the two names into his computer so he can pull their student profiles up, something outside of tinted window caught Laxus' attention. "Stop the car."

The black limo immediately halted at his order. He rolled down the window to get a better view of what was transpiring outside. A man in black seemed to have snatched a middle aged woman's purse and was bolting away as the woman screamed for help. Laxus almost laughed at the robber. What a pathetic scum, stealing from the weak in daylight. Commoners—they were weak, all of them. He could squish any one of them with a mere lift of his foot.

He lifted a hand to motion the driver to carry on, but then stopped mid-track when he saw a girl running to counter the robber. His eyes widened slightly when the busty blond swiftly kicked the black-clad man in the stomach and grabbed his arm while he was down and pinned it to his back to restrain movement. Hmmm.

"Laxus—where are you going?" Freed asked when the spiky haired blond stepped out of the limo. He closed his mouth when he saw the chilling glare the President gave him. With a sigh, he closed his green eyes. "I'll wait in the car."

The man was fairly easy to take down—it seemed that this was the first time the man had any experience in criminal activities, or he would have been stronger. Lucy performed the most basic restraining technique and that was already enough to keep the man down and unconscious—after her "Lucy-kick" to the abdomen, that is. Nevertheless, she was pretty damn impressed with herself.

The middle aged lady finally caught up to them and let out a relieved gasp. She thanked Lucy over and over again with grateful tears. Lucy laughed nervously, "Ah h-ha, it was nothing, really. He was easy to take down."

"That was very impressive."

Lucy turned at the sudden voice that interjected them. The young man before her was tall, towering over her crouched form. His wild blond hair seemed to glisten in the late afternoon sun, but what really captivated her were his eyes. Those stormy blue orbs smiled charmingly down at her, and the healed, lightning bolt shaped scar down his right eye only made him more attractive.

"I've called the police, they should be here any moment now," he said, dropping his expensive-looking phone back into his pant pocket. It was then Lucy recognized who he was—not necessarily the name of the man, but rather the uniform he wore. He donned black slacks and a crisp white dress shirt; the first three buttons were unbuttoned showing off his toned chest. A standard red double-breasted blazer was hanging across his wide shoulders, his arms absent from the sleeves. He was a student from the elite Fairy Tail High School.

He offered a hand and Lucy, dumbstruck for a moment, blinked and finally took it. She was pulled into her feet as his touch remained light. "Uh-um, thanks," Lucy said awkwardly. When he didn't let go of her hand, her eyes ticked and she tried to pull away. "Ano…can I help you?"

The young man released his hold, "Ah, I'm sorry," he bowed, "Laxus Dreyar."

Lucy blinked again, confused and then realized that he had just given her his name. The name sounded familiar, but she just couldn't quite put a finger to it. She shrugged; if she gets accepted into Fairy Tail, she'll learn it fast enough if he was in any of her classes. Now, it was only fair to return the favor. "Lucy Heartfilla."

He smiled charmingly; however, Lucy felt that there was more to the smile. It almost looked…sinister. Almost. The sound of police sirens broke their stare and Lucy was suddenly alerted. "Okay, well, if that's all you needed to know, then I should be on my way. See ya'!"

She quickly left the scene, leaving Laxus alone with the unconscious purse snatcher. Lucy Heartfilla, huh? Interesting. His smile dissolved as he walked back into his limo. "Freed," Laxus drawled after he settled into the comfortable leather seat. "Look up Lucy Heartfilla for me."

Freed looked up with a raised brow. "Blond hair, brown eyes?" he asked.

"How did you know?" it was Laxus who raised his brows this time.

Freed said nothing, only to turn his silver computer around. The page was filled with a blue haired girl and Lucy Heartfilla's student information. "Lucy Heartfilla, along with the other girl, are the only ones who passed the entrance exam with a perfect score."

Stormy blue eyes scanned over the picture on the profile. She was average looking—the shoulder-length blond hair and chocolate eyes, both were painfully average. Her smile, however, radiated innocence. All the better, Laxus grinned wolfishly, showing off his two sharp canines.

"Send those two the acceptance letter, Freed, and find me every inch of information you can about this…Heartfilla."