Backfired

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Fairy Tail.

Standing in the middle of Domus Flau in a wedding dress and surrounded by a bunch of other mages – men and women – also dressed in wedding attire, hadn't been something that Lucy had ever thought might happen to her. But it seemed that it was just another part of her crazy life as a Fairy Tail mage now – one she was finally beginning to get used to.

Sort of.

This situation kind of had to take the cake, though.

Still, now dressed in a simple but elegant wedding dress, she looked around with a bit of indecision. "Who should I go with?" she mused to herself as she looked around for some guy that was also partner-less.

However, she never got the chance to find anyone for herself, because before she knew it she was being picked up in someone's arms and flown through the air. She blinked, then looked up to see who it was that had grabbed her.

Loke!

Within milliseconds she was trying her damnedest to fight off the incipient blush and rush of emotions his attentions had seemingly always caused within her, though even more so lately. She sighed quietly, disgruntled by that fact. Stupid jerk is too hot, sweet, and caring for my peace of mind. And too much of a playboy for my peace of heart, darn him anyway.

"You know," Loke's smooth tenor that never failed to send shivers up and down her spine interrupted her deteriorating thoughts, along with a seductive look that about sent her libido into overdrive, "we should take this chance and really get married."

Lucy froze, and stared at him with her mouth hanging open slightly. Did he really just say that to me? Of all the... Her exasperated thoughts came to a sudden halt as she frowned at him.

"Now what would you do if I said yes, Don Juan?" she finally asked with heavy sarcasm. "It would serve you right if the next time you used that kind of line on some poor girl, she said yes and left you trying to weasel your way out of the mess your own flirtatious mouth and stupid playboy ways got you into."

The tawny-maned spirit's face went suddenly unreadable as he took in that answer. He landed easily and gently set her down, and she cocked a tapered brow at him, just waiting for the rest of his reaction.

Reasonably certain that she knew what it was going to be, Lucy was instead surprised when the panicked expression she'd expected to see on his face didn't bother to show up. Instead, he looked resolute, and he captured her eyes and held them with his in an intense sort of way that instantly had her very short of breath.

"If I thought you were serious, I'd drag you out of here right now and elope with you, princess," Loke replied with conviction, not one ounce of laughter, teasing, or flirtation in his voice. "And for your further information, I've never even hinted to a woman that I'd marry her, let alone made such a comment as I did to you to anyone else. Ever. But seeing you dressed like that was too good of an opportunity to pass up to make that kind of offer to you. So I did. If you ever decide you're ready to get married, let me know, babe, because I'll have us legally bound before you know what hit you."

Altogether dumbfounded, Lucy could do little but stare at her lion with wide, startled doe eyes. Okay... that didn't go as planned. "Uhm," she began, then stopped, completely uncertain of just what to say or even where to start. Her thoughts were buzzing wildly around her brain, and she couldn't seem to grab one out of the morass and actually consider it for more than a few milliseconds at a time.

Loke chuckled into the silence that had fallen between them after her failed attempt at responding, though it sounded sad and resigned, not amused. "Well, that little plan backfired on you, didn't it, Lucy-love? You thought to scare me into stammering out some excuse and then running for the hills as fast as I could, and now you're the one trying to figure out how to get out of the situation. But don't worry, now that you know how I feel about such a thing as marrying you, and I know how you view the matter from your reaction, I'll leave you alone about it and won't bring it up again."

He went to step back, and to Lucy it was clear he was about to close his gate and go back to the spirit world, where he would then proceed to avoid her as much as he could. Oh, no you don't, she thought fiercely, and reached out to grab hold of his tie. She yanked him towards her, rather enjoying the suddenly-stunned look on that gorgeous face of his.

"You think you can just say that to me and then disappear? No way, Loke! You said your piece, so now you have to listen to me. It's only fair," she scowled up at him. "So, there's this guy, right? He always flirts with me, but he flirts with every girl so I never took him seriously, even if I really wanted to. And then out of the blue he says we should get married. Now, I just figured he was simply doing more of that aforementioned flirting, and took him to task for it," she continued, still holding tightly to his tie to make sure he didn't get away from her – though from the spellbound, gaping look on his face, the thought of disappearing had lost its allure. "Do you know what happened then?"

Loke, unable to find his voice at the moment, just blinked owlishly at her through his sunglasses.

"Well, I'll tell you what happened then. He tells me that if he thought I meant it he'd drag me down to sign the papers immediately. He says that he's never made such a comment about marriage to anyone else, but that if I'm ever ready to get married, to let him know. And then, while I'm trying to find my way out of my complete and utter shock, he has the nerve to assume he knows what I'm thinking and feeling, tells me that he won't mention it again, and tries to leave – just like that!"

"Uh, i-is that so?" was all he could think of to say.

"Yes! Who the hell does he think he is, anyway?" she ranted. "I mean, how do you basically propose to a girl, then try to run away because you didn't give her a chance to get past her surprise and actually answer for herself? The nerve!"

"Okay-" Loke was forced to clear his throat, "-I can see why you'd be upset, I think," he agreed bemusedly as he reached up and pried her fingers from his tie, then straightened himself and readjusted it, patting it back into place as he eyed her somewhat cautiously. "I'm sorry for assuming I knew what your reaction meant. What were you going to say to me if I hadn't... jumped the gun, so to speak?"

At that, a cat-that-got-the-cream expression took over her face, and she grabbed his hand and then whirled around, tugging him after her. She grinned to herself as the usually graceful lion stumbled a bit as he tried to keep up with her rather rapid pace, considering the long slim skirt of the dress she was wearing.

"Umm, Lucy?" he prompted, sounding terribly confused, if hopeful.

"I was going to say 'then let's go', before you took the chance from me," she replied as she glanced over her shoulder at him with a mischievous but sunny smile.

Now the man behind her stumbled even harder, and his eyes widened as she continued to stride towards the exit to the arena. "W-what?" he gasped, almost unable to believe the wild turn-around his fortunes had seemingly just taken. His heart pounded in his chest, and he pulled back on his hand hard enough to halt the blonde's surprisingly implacable pace.

She grudgingly stopped and looked at him, though she didn't let go her grip on his appendage. "Yes?" she questioned haughtily. "Is there a problem?"

Loke gritted his teeth against the wave of desire that slammed into him at that piece of provocation, and glared at her. "You'd better hope you aren't just playing games with me, woman. One more step - just one! - towards that exit and I won't let you out of it. I'll have you bound to me as quickly as celestially possible, get me?"

A warning, then.

Lucy shrugged. She was fine with that, actually. "Then stop talking about it and do it," she dared him as she held his gaze and took that one step he'd previously mentioned.

With a muffled curse the stellar spirit took two steps forward, swept her up into his arms once again, and took off in a rush of power towards the now-looming exit, disappearing from the arena without a single thought for the competition still going on inside it. He'd long since forgotten entirely about the games and the huge audience, and even if he'd have remembered, he wouldn't have cared. No... nothing else mattered but the fact that the woman of his dreams was in his arms and about to become irrevocably his.

Well, not irrevocably, unless...

Once they were outside Domus Flau he came to a stop in the street and looked down at her. "Lucy..." he trailed off, trying to figure out how to ask her the one big question that was left, as far as he was concerned.

"Changing your mind?"

"No!" he glowered. "I'm just not sure how to tell you-"

"If you've got something to say, then say it," she sighed tolerantly, meeting his gaze calmly.

"We can do this one of two ways," he finally replied slowly as he watched her expression closely. "We can simply get married here in your realm by eloping, or... or we can do what I really want to do, and that's have Seirei-o say the binding for us. If he does it, then..." Loke's shoulders tensed, and he rolled them as much as he could while holding her and forced himself to go on, "then I'll really be able to keep you with me forever."

Lucy's eyes widened. "Forever? You mean, like... forever, forever? Seirei-o would allow that? How?!" she gasped incredulously.

"Yes, yes, and more than yes," he nodded. "There's a little bit of a sacrifice that would be necessary from me, though. As to the how, some of my true power would take up permanent residence within you. It would stop you from aging or dying, and when you were ready to let go of a life here, you would be able to live with me in the spirit world. It's not like you wouldn't be able to come back here if you wanted sometimes, you know, the same as I can," he added quickly at the look on her face, "but we would spend most of our time there. But be very aware, Lucy... this would be literally forever. There's no divorce like there is here in the human realm."

"What's the sacrifice you mentioned?" she asked suspiciously, paying his warning no mind. She'd already figured that much out from the way he'd spoken. "It had better not be something dangerous."

He chuckled, his tension easing a little, since she hadn't turned him down flat or even looked bothered by the possibility of forever with him, just that it might demand something harmful of him. "No, it's just that I'd be a little less powerful. Not by much, mind, since I am the zodiac lion. In the celestial realm I have the full power of Regulus and the other stars of my constellation at my fingertips in a much more direct way than I'm able to here, but still, there would be a minute reduction in my strength even there. As your spirit first and foremost right now I felt like I should be honest about that, because it's something that you need to know."

Lucy nodded, then looked down at where her hands were resting against her as she considered what he'd imparted. After a minute or so she looked back up with a soft smile and tears welling in her eyes as one hand pressed itself to her heart. "I almost don't know what to say, Loke. The fact that you'd be willing to do that makes me feel so warm inside. So... special." She blushed.

"Say yes, then, princess," he said huskily. "I'm way more than willing to do it, and can't see it as anything less than a blessing and an infinitesimal price to pay to keep you with me. I'd pay it a million times over for the chance, Lucy, I really would. Hell, if it weren't possible I'd even be willing to find a way to become mortal just so I could stay with you – live with you and die with you."

It was in that moment that Lucy knew for sure that she could do it. She could give him eternity, because she knew without a shadow of doubt that he would never have offered something like that if he didn't truly love her with everything he was. It meant that she wasn't simply another faceless girl in the crowd, because she was one hundred percent certain that he would never take the ultimate commitment that this would be so lightly as to use it to make passes at anyone.

And it meant that her lion would never have to be alone again.

With a blinding smile she raised one hand to cup his cheek, and gave him the only answer she could. "Yes."

Yes!

Loke's throat choked up for a moment, and he grinned with heartfelt elation. "Really?!"

Lucy nodded eagerly, beginning to smile with the same excitement she could feel from him. "Mhmm. To never have to say goodbye is a blessing!" She squeaked a little in surprise, though, when he tightened his arms around her, his eyes falling closed momentarily as he kissed her temple with great tenderness.

In fervent tones, he mumbled against her skin, "You won't ever regret this, Lucy, I swear it to you right now. I will live to make you happy."

Putting a hand over her mouth to stop the sob from leaving her throat as he opened his eyes again, the young woman smiled wetly at her lion and forced herself to speak around the emotional obstruction trying to freeze her vocal chords. "Well, if we're going to do this, we'd better do it now, because I still have to participate in the games as a member of Fairy Tail's Team A, about to get married or not."

Loke paused, then frowned and said, "Are you competing anymore today?"

She shook her head and firmly wiped her welling tears away. "That's why I said we'd have to do it now. Besides, even if I'm not competing, I'm still supposed to be with the rest of the team. There's a break coming up, so I should be okay for right now, but... but that doesn't leave enough time for this," she fretted suddenly. "Maybe we should wait until later?"

"Nope, no way," came the instant rebuttal. "I told you if you took that step earlier I wouldn't let you back out of it, and I meant that. But you're right, to summon Seirei-o and have him do the binding now would take longer than we have," he replied thoughtfully. "Hm... in the interests of time and the guild I would be willing to wait until later this evening when the games are over for the day for the binding. But only if you agree to go right now and sign the papers here. That way you can't change your mind on me - and we'd be considered married in both realms. Come to think of it," he noted with a slight scowl as he looked around at the numerous appreciative gazes pinned to Lucy, not paying any attention to the ones locked on him, "I think I prefer that idea, actually, so I won't have to kill other guys for trying to poach on my territory. They'd know you were taken, here or there."

"There? Oh, who do you have to worry about in the spirit world, anyway?" she smacked him smartly in the chest with a pert expression.

"Taurus, for one," he shot back at her, scowling deeper at the reminder. "That guy won't shut up about your 'hot body'. Only now he'd better, or I'll turn him into a giant steak. That hot body is all mine."

"Okay, Mr. Possessive, you can put me down now," she said tartly, giving him a little flustered glare – though it was easy to tell she didn't really mind his comment. But he'd been holding her the entire time they'd been out on the street talking, and she was more than ready to be back on her own two feet. "If you want to do this, then let's get a move on. Although-" she glanced down at her attire, and then his, "-maybe we should change out of these wedding clothes first?"

Loke couldn't help it, he really couldn't, and burst out laughing as he set her carefully on her feet. "Only you, Lucy. Only you would be wearing a wedding dress and decide to change out of it before getting married. Oh, my love, forever already looks so much brighter now that I'm going to have you for it," he chortled, though he really meant what he was saying with all his heart. "But if you insist, I suppose we can do that before eloping." He took her hand. "So come on, let's go change."

Lucy giggled in response and led him into the city towards Fairy Tail's lodgings, her skirts held carefully to avoid getting any dust on them. "Yes, well, it might be strange, but no one's ever accused me of having a normal life, anyway," she quipped cheerily.

"And I'm thankful as hell that's true, princess," Loke chuckled as he squeezed her hand, "because if you had lived a normal life, we would never have met. Since you're the best thing that's ever happened to me, I say let's forever live a strange life. Sound good to you?"

Her eyes sparkled up at him and she nodded once, decisively.

"Sounds good to me."

~~LoLu~~

A/N: I was watching the Grand Magic Games arc, and when the wedding-attire scene between LoLu went by, all I could think was, 'If someone said something like that to me, I would have said...' and this was born. I'm just a smart-ass that way, though. But once the thought was there I couldn't help but write it out. ~shrugs~

On a side note, this will be followed by Backfired: The Wedding, the Bonding, and Beyond, to kind of round the story out.