Torn Apart

By Hime Jigoku

Chapter One

She flung her arm across the bed looking for the warm body that was normally there, but found that side of the bed cold. She shot open her eyes and looked around the room for the black haired, red eyed slayer that she normally shared a bed with. It took her mind a moment to wake up and remember that he had not been there for the past week. That he would never be there again. She would be lying if she said that she didn't miss the large pierced man, but she couldn't say she was upset about their relationship coming to an end. Don't get her wrong, it was amazing while it lasted, but over the last year they had grown apart. Their eyes and hearts had begun to drift to other people.

She wasn't sure exactly when she fell out of love with Gajeel and started to fall for a certain blond-haired dragon slayer. The realization that she was in love with her boyfriend's best friend had her feeling like she was the worst person in the world. She was utterly miserable. She kept her feelings hidden for six months and tried everything she could to rekindle the love that was once there between her and the large pierced man. Everything she tried ended in failure. The love that she once held for the dark-haired man was gone. She still loved and cared for him as a friend, but the spark just wasn't there.

It was just this past week that she had finally came clean about her feelings for the larger of the three male dragon slayers that were a part of Fairy Tail. Yelling was what the blonde woman had expected when the words flowed past her lips, but what she got was something much different. Laughter poured from Gajeel's mouth, leaving a stunned Lucy in its wake. It wasn't until after Gajeel had calmed down and began to explain that he had grown feeling for her small blue haired friend Levy that giggles began to leave her. What was the likely hood that they had fallen for each other's best friends? It was like something out of the romance novels she was so fond of. It was the easiest break up she ever had, and because of that they were able to keep their friendship intact.

Lucy stretched her arms high above her head, arched her back, and lengthened her legs as much as she could to stretch out every muscle in her stiff body. A small satisfied moan left her as she felt her back pop in three different places. The busty woman kept her body like that for a couple more moments, enjoying the small amount of pleasure she got from her limbs being stretched. A relaxed sigh escaped her lips as she finally let her body relax back into the mattress. After that she wasted no time in throwing the blankets off herself and heading to the bathroom, grabbing a towel along the way.

Lucy knew that today was going to be an eventful day and wanted to get to the guild hall as quickly as she could. The celestial maiden wanted to spend some time with Laxus before having to leave later this evening on a mission with Gajeel and Levy. The iron dragon slayer had tried his hardest to get the lightning slayer to accompany them, but he had already committed to leaving on a request with his team the following morning. It was a disappointment that the center of her affection wasn't coming, but it wasn't a complete loss.

'There are other things I can do to keep myself entertained on this mission,' Lucy thought with a mischievous smirk on her face. Yes, she was going on a job with her ex-boyfriend and his soon to be girlfriend, but her main goal was operation GAJEVY! Secretly, she had been conspiring with Mira to get the two together faster and between the two of them they had some pretty good ideas. She was tired of the iron dragon slayer's excuse of he wasn't going to pursue Levy until she had bagged Laxus, but this two week long request was going to put an end to that. There was no way that she was going to let Gajeel put his life on hold any longer than he already has just for her benefit.

Lucy exited the shower, wrapping the fluffy pink towel tightly around her body, and proceeded to pick up her brush to take it quickly through her hair. Hopefully without ripping too much out. She had just finished taking the brush through her long golden locks and getting her blow-dryer out when a knock on the door froze her in place. It was not her team, that she knew for sure, they never knocked before coming in. Natsu always used the window by her bed when he stopped by, Gray had a habit of climbing down her chimney, and Erza always just let herself in using the spare key Lucy gave her. Even they had stopped just wondering in whenever they felt like it though.

Lucy chuckled thinking about the reason why her team now calls before making their appearance. Natsu had the misfortune of coming in through the window while Gajeel and her were in the middle of knocking the headboard of her bed against the wall, landing right on top of the couple. The fight that pursued after almost completely destroyed her room, and Natsu ended up being thrown out the window he had crawled through. She had to admit even with how frustrated she was at being interrupted, watching Gajeel fight Natsu naked had her cracking up for days.

The pink haired idiot claimed that he thought she was being attacked and needed to be saved. The only other people that came over are Gajeel, Levy, Cana, Wendy, Laxus, and his team, but they never came over unannounced. The blonde celestial mage was snapped out of her thoughts when the banging on her door became more demanding.

"I'm coming damn it! Don't get your panties in a bunch!" Lucy yelled down the stairs before heading back to her room to put some clothes on. She was irritated by the person's impatience and it was bringing out her Gajeel side as she liked to call it. What could she say though? She was with the man for two and a half years and she was bound to pick up some of his bad habits along the way. She quickly threw on a loose-fitting shirt she normally slept in and a pair of Gajeel's gym shorts that were lying around that he still had yet to pick up. Storming down the stairs she made it to the front door in no time.

"What the hell do you want?" Lucy swung her door wide open ready to deliver the culprit a Lucy kick to the head, but she never got the chance. Before she was even able to catch a look at the person that has been rudely banging on her door a large blast of magic hit her chest and sent her flying through the wall behind her.

Pain spread throughout her chest and even the slightest move hurt, but staying down wasn't an option. She was a Fairy Tail mage! There was no way she was going to go down without a fight. With that thought in mind, she slowly began to make her way up onto her hands and knees. Doing her best to ignore the pain that only seemed to be getting worse.

"Should have stayed down girlie," came a male's baritone voice. A chuckle reached her ears, but she never got a chance to look at the man responsible for the state she was now in. Another burst of pain shot through her, this time in her head, and her world went black.

…

Laxus and Gajeel sat in the back of the guild hall drinking their beer and just enjoying the quiet that was a rarity when it came to Fairy Tail. It came as no surprise though when the three most destructive mages had just left that morning to go on a job. They felt sorry for the poor un-expecting town that would be leveled by the end of the day. Why the master had not disbanded the team yet for how much destruction they caused was beyond them. They knew that team Natsu had to be costing the guild a small fortune in damages. The busty blonde woman that was part of that team had to be a big part of why the team was still intact, though there were plenty of other teams that would have gladly taken in Lucy. Laxus' team being one of them. Everyone knew that Lucy and Mira were the master's favorites, even if the old man never came out and fully admitted it.

"Sparky, when are you going to ask Bunny out?" Gajeel asked with a smirk on his face. He had been working on trying to get the two hooked up the past few days, but the lightning dragon slayer didn't seem to be going for it. He knew it wasn't because the large blond man didn't have feelings for the celestial mage because he saw the way he looked at the small woman. Laxus' eyes seemed to follow her wherever she went when she was in the guild hall. The dark-haired man had a feeling it had more to do with the unspoken rule of not dating your friend's ex, but Gajeel had never been one for rules.

"Sorry Metal Head, I don't do sloppy seconds." Laxus forced his body not to flinch at the words that spilled from between his lips and stomped down the guilt that was building inside of him. It wasn't that he thought badly of Blondie, it was just that Gajeel was starting to get under his skin with trying to push him onto the idea of being with the busty mage. That idea was tempting enough without the other slaying bringing it up on a daily basis. Honestly, he wasn't sure how much longer he could hold off on pursuing the woman before he finally snapped and just threw her over his shoulder and took her back to his place. He knew how she felt about him, smelt it on her every time she was around, so he knew she wouldn't protest.

The thought of punch the larger man in the back of the head had crossed Gajeel's mind for a brief second before he pushed it down. He knew that the older slayer was just trying to get him to drop the subject by starting a fight. Laxus had another thing coming if he thought that plan of action was going to work. Red eyes watched as the blond male brought his beer mug to his lips before a vicious smile formed on his face and he spoke.

"Trust me it is not sloppy. Every time I fucked her it seemed tighter than the last." Gajeel had to hold back the laughter that was threatening to spill out as his fellow dragon slayer started to choke on his beer. He wanted to make the man squirm some and hopefully he would realize how much of an idiot he was being. While Laxus was trying to get his breathing back, the pierced face man looked up at the clock once again and had to fight down the urge to run to Bunny Girl's house to make sure she was alright. She was supposed to meet him at the guild an hour ago, but had yet to show up. They might not be together anymore but that didn't mean he stopped caring about her. He still loved the woman; he just wasn't in love with her.

"Gajeel, you ass clown! I don't need to know that shit!" The large blond dragon slayer had to fight back his dragon instincts to rip the smaller man sitting across from him head off. He didn't know why his dragon side had started acting up when it came to Fairy Tail's celestial mage. All he knew was it started six months ago and was only getting worse as the days passed. Everyday Lucy and Gajeel were together he had to fight himself to not beat his best friend to a bloody pulp and throw Lucy over his shoulder to run off with her like some cave man. Now since they had broken up, it was a struggle to not bed the sexy blonde female.

Gajeel just shrugged as he started to look around the guild for the young woman that they were just talking about, but once again came up empty handed. "Well if you don't then someone else will. I would much rather it be you and not some ass hat who will treat her like shit." Out of the corner of his eye he saw how the oversized man stiffened at his words but ignored it and searched the hall once more in case he had over looked her somehow. "Bunny's still not here. Come on Spark Plug, we are going to go check on her."

"Think Blondie has been rubbing odd on you," Laxus growled out as he glared at the red eyed man. He hated that nickname and the only person he allowed to get away with calling him that had yet to walk her sexy ass through the guild doors.

"Well we were doing the nasty for over two years; I would say something was bound to rub off or out of." The evil smile found its way to Gajeel's lips as he dodges the fist that the lightening slayer threw at him.

"Why have I not electrocuted your ass yet?" With all the piercings on the other man's body it would not have been hard to land a bolt of electricity to him and that was all too tempting to Laxus at the moment.

"It would upset Bunny." Gajeel just shrugged his shoulders as he turned to walk away, listening to Laxus growl as he followed after him. The two dragon slayers walked in silence for a few moments as they made their way to the missing mages house. Neither really bothered by it, but Laxus just couldn't help but ask the one thing that had been on his mind since the smaller man had said the words.

"So, you really wouldn't care if I started seeing Blondie?" Stormy blue eyes watched the man beside him curiously. Lucy and Gajeel had been a couple for well over two years, and broken up for even less. It was hard for him to believe that just like that the iron dragon slayer would be ok with someone that was so close to him for so long to be seeing other people.

"That is what I have been trying to tell you. It was a mutual split; the feeling just was not there anymore. She is in love with someone else and so am I." Gajeel watched as Laxus took his words in and watched him freeze for a split second with a look of shock on his face. It was only for a split second, then he was back to looking like his regular asshole self.

"Wait, are you saying what I think your ways?" To say he was stunned would have been an understatement. He knew Lucy was attracted to him, but to say she loved him seemed a little far-fetched to him.

Gajeel rolled his eyes and let out an irritated sigh as they continued to walk. Seriously, when was the oversize idiot going to get it. He had been dropping hints to him the past couple days and it seems like it still had not clicked for the lightning slayer. "Do I need to fucking spell it out for you? I'm starting to question your intelligence."

The blonde-haired dragon slayer was to stunned to say anything else as they finished there walk. It just seemed too unreal to him that the one woman that he grew to have feelings for as more than a friend actually liked him back. Laxus had a reputation for sleeping around, so to hear that Lucy actually had feeling for him beyond just a use in the bedroom had him and his dragon going crazy.

The rest of the walk was made in silence as the blond-haired man thought over the information that his friend had just thrown at him. Both were still hoping that they would run into the celestial maiden along the way, but the closer they got to the place she called home the more their hopes died and the dread began to set in. Laxus was the first to notice Lucy's front door wide open, but no head of blonde hair in sight. The lightening slayer wasted no time in activating his lightening transport and putting himself dead center in her living room.

"Lucy!" Laxus yelled as panic stared to take over him when he saw the large hole in the wall. The rest of the downstairs looked to be untouched. Only that was off besides the hole in the wall was the small traces of blood that laces the air. He quickly started to make his way through the house, shouting her name as he went. He froze in horror when he got to her bedroom.

Gajeel finally caught up with Laxus and ran to the man's side. He froze when he saw the look of heartbreak and terror on his best friend's face. He followed the stormy blue eyes line of sight and felt his own heart break into tine little pieces. For anyone who knew Lucy this would be a living nightmare. The room was just the way she had left it and someone who didn't know the blonde very well would see nothing wrong with it. They did know Lucy though and to see her gate keys on her bedside table screamed that something was very wrong. Lucy never went anywhere without her keys.