Falling Stars 2 – Laxus vs. Lucy

Wow, another chapter?! Let's get to it!

*Fairy Tail is not mine.*

The next day, Lucy met Laxus and the Thunder Legion at the appointed spot, at the town square's iron statue.
"Didn't think you would actually come," Laxus said out loud to Lucy as she walked up to them, five minutes early to their appointed time. She was still a little bruised, but her left arm was in bandages and it looked like most of her minor injuries had healed overnight. She had a large knapsack on her back and was dressed like she was going camping. Laxus guessed she planned on walking to the next town over.
Lucy huffed and stood a little straighter. "I always keep my promises. And I never back down from a challenge."
He gave her his trademark smirk. "Then what do you say we make this a little more interesting? When I win, you have to kiss me," he offered.
The look on her face was priceless. She blushed as red a tomato and began to stutter. "W-What?! W-Why would you w-want th-that?!"

He began to chuckle at her expense before saying, "Because I usually get what I want. And since we'll be departing in a few hours, getting you to sleep with me would be out of the question. So, I'll just have to settle for a kiss," he leaned towards her. Now she looked mad enough to slap him.

"Who says I'd ever sleep with you?" she struggled to keep her voice at a low volume. "Just what do you think I am?!"

He shrugged casually. "Forget it. Follow us. There's a place in the forest where we can have our fight."

Despite still being angry, Lucy followed the other four mages into the nearby woods.

Lucy set her bag down on the ground near a large tree and headed to the middle of the clearing where Laxus was. He stood there with his arms crossed, looking at her while wearing a neutral expression.
Lucy walked up to him and placed her hands on her hips. "So how do you want to do this?" she asked.
A corner of Laxus' closed mouth quirked upward. "Fight until there's only one of us standing. I'll try to go easy on you," he answered with a grin.
Lucy rolled her eyes at the lightning dragon slayer. She didn't know when to take him seriously.
Laxus inclined his head toward the opposite end of the clearing. "Go over there. I'm ready when you are."
Lucy walked off, but Laxus' eyes never left her form, analyzing the way she walked and naturally swayed her hips.
"Laxus-sama...if I may ask. Why do you wish to fight this girl?" Freed spoke up from behind him.
"I want to see what her abilities are for myself."
"Then perhaps one of us should fight her. With your power level-" Freed began a suggestion when Laxus cut him off.
"She was able to take down a dark guild by herself, Freed. I want to gauge her strength myself."
Freed fell silent, knowing himself that the celestial mage was no weakling by anyone's standards.
By this time, Lucy had reached the other side of the field and turned around. Laxus stepped away from his team and faced his opponent, the coat on his shoulders swaying in the wind. He crossed his arms and stared down the celestial mage with a grin.
"Since I'm so nice, I'll let you have the first move, Blondie." he said in a raised voice.
"Hmph," Lucy was unamused, but pulled out a key anyway, deciding to not let the opportunity slip by. "Open, Gate of the Shield, Scutum!" she incanted. A flash of golden light, and then a monstrosity appeared. Laxus raised his brow in surprise and took in the tall spirit before him. At first, Laxus would have called it a robot, it was so boxy and seemed to be made up of only metal. But the metal visor on the head made him think that there was someone actually in the large suit of armor.
Lucy quickly pulled out another key. "Open, Gate of the Fox, Vulpecula!"
Once again, a flash of golden light appeared. Another spirit, this one dressed like a ninja with a fox tail, stood by Lucy.
"Vulpecula, go in the shadows for now. I'll call you when I need you." Laxus heard Lucy clearly, even though she was speaking in a hushed tone. The fox spirit disappeared, a dark shade left in its place that wriggled like a snake toward the shadows the trees were casting on the ground. Lucy stepped forward until she was side-by-side with Scutum. She pulled out the whip that was stationed at her hip. Laxus raised an eyebrow at her.
"And what are you going to do with that?" he asked.
She brandished the whip. "I fight alongside my spirits," she answered.
Laxus hadn't been expecting that. But that just made things more interesting.
"Let's go, Scutum," she told her spirit. Both master and spirit charged Laxus, Scutum being far faster than Laxus expected him to be. The earth beneath Laxus tremored slightly with each step the armored spirit took toward him.
Laxus released a lightning bolt in Lucy's direction, reasoning that by taking out the master, he could stop the spirit. But Lucy easily dodged it, surprising him. Scutum was nearly on top of Laxus, forcing the dragon slayer's attention on the spirit. Figuring the spirit would just be as conductive as any metal, he fired large bolts of lightning at Scutum. At the last second, the spirit stopped, brought its arms together, and formed a giant shield from the attachments on its arms, blocking the lightning. Hm, Laxus thought that would work.
Laxus suddenly felt something wrap around his ankle and pull at him. He had been slightly distracted by the spirit, but he hadn't completely forgotten about Lucy. Lucy had managed to get the end of her whip wrapped around his ankle and she was attempting to get him off balance. Laxus smirked at her efforts and jerked his foot back. What he wasn't expecting was the amount of force she pulled him back with once his foot was off the ground. She was stronger than she looked.
"Now!" she suddenly yelled just before Laxus felt something come into contact with the back of his head. He pitched forth, straight into the dirt. His arms broke most of his fall, and he looked up just in time to see the fox spirit from before back-flipping toward Lucy. Little fucker must have kicked him from behind. Laxus got up off the ground and brushed himself off with a slight grin as he untangled himself from the whip.
"I admit I wasn't expecting that, Blondie. Guess I'll actually have to take this seriously." He whipped his coat from his shoulders and tossed it to the side.
Lucy looked mad. "Stop wasting my time!" she yelled as she stretched the whip between her hands. The metallic spirit charged Laxus a second time, the earth rumbling beneath their feet. He could see the fox spirit charging him on his left. Laxus let out dual bolts of lightning at the spirits. The fox dodged the bolts, but the shield spirit once again stopped and blocked it by syncing its arms together.
"Use Spirit Beam!" Lucy shouted.
Laxus looked at the shield spirit just in time to see its shield glow white. Sensing something was coming, Laxus rolled out of the way just before a beam of white light was shot out of the middle of the shield towards where he had been one second prior. Even though he was a good six or seven feet away from the beam, he could still feel the intense heat from the spell. Once the beam disappeared, Laxus looked behind him and gaped. Three once healthy-looking trees were now singed black by the intense Spirit Beam Scutum had aimed at him. That could have been him.
He turned back around to see Vulpecula's foot aimed right for his face. He again rolled out of the way and stood up to face his new challenger. The fox spirit threw quick punches and kicks at the dragon slayer, but Laxus was just as quick to dodge and block them. When the fox landed a punch on Laxus' forearm, the dragon slayer sent a powerful shock to the spirit, forcing it backwards, but it jumped right back up. Laxus dodged the end of Lucy's whip by diving off to the side and running behind Scutum, then releasing a bolt at the spirit. Attacking from behind proved effective as it vanished back into the Celestial World. Lucy didn't stop attacking and neither did the fox spirit as it changed into a shadow and came at Laxus from different sides, landing a few blows onto the tough dragon slayer. Just as the fox was about to attack again, Laxus charged his body with electricity so that when the blow connected, Vulpecula was shocked backwards again. The fox disappeared in a cloud of gold dust.

Lucy snapped her whip, not giving up. She aimed for Laxus, but the end of the whip only caught around his forearm, not quite immobilizing him. He was about to send a lightning bolt directly at her when Laxus felt his chest clench painfully, like something had a grip around his heart. He faltered for a moment but managed to keep his footing. He shook his head as the pain lessened and thoughts of attacking her disappeared. Deciding to just end the fight, he grabbed onto Lucy's whip and yanked it hard, clean out of her hands. It was over.

"Looks like I win, Blondie," he twirled the end of her whip in one hand, a cocky smile on his lips. Lucy sighed and crossed her arms.

"Guess so," she grumbled as she approached him. She held her hand out to him to get her whip back from him. Instead of returning her weapon to her though, Laxus leaned forward and tapped the corner of his lips, waiting. Lucy blinked at him, not understanding what he wanted.

"Remember our deal?" he reminded her. A blush instantly crept up her face and she took a step back. "You're not getting your whip back otherwise, Blondie," he told her.

It looked like Lucy was forcing herself to refrain from slapping him again. She frowned as she took a hesitant step forward and aimed her lips for Laxus' cheek. But he turned his head at the last second so that their lips connected. Lucy gave a small shriek as she recoiled from the static shock she received. She glared at Laxus angrily, but ignored his own bewildered expression.

"You shocked me!" she accused. Laxus was unsure why she had been shocked, since he felt it too. Only instead of feeling like a static electric shock, it felt more like he'd been struck by his own lightning. Not exactly painful, but it felt like a warmth had enveloped him, encompassing him like no other human contact had before. Laxus was glad when Lucy turned to retrieve her bag, otherwise she would have seen his blush.

He quickly recovered and handed her whip back to her when she returned to him. She glared at him one last time and turned on her heel, leaving Laxus and the Raijinshuu behind. Laxus' hand twitched as he just barely restrained himself from reaching out to grab her hand, anything to prevent her from leaving him. Wait, what?

Laxus shook his head as his teammates walked up to him after Lucy left.

"I hope that kiss was worth almost missing our train," Evergreen spoke up. "Though Lucy didn't seem too happy about it...why did she yell at you anyway?"

"No reason," Laxus said quickly before anyone could say anything. "Let's get going," he stated and headed for town, the Thunder Legion following close behind.

Laxus felt...confused for some reason. He'd never gotten such a strong reaction from a kiss alone before, nor had his own magic betrayed him by shocking a person he didn't mean to. Though it might not have been his magic...and there was that pain he felt when they were fighting. Why hadn't he attacked her? What was wrong with him? Maybe he needed to get his heart checked out. Yeah, that was it...

Little did Laxus know what was coming. Meeting the celestial mage might have been an act of fate, almost as if something had guided them to each other. And fate wasn't done yet...

Okay, kind of a short chapter, but chapter 3 is coming soon!

I guess the fight between Laxus and Lucy wasn't exactly necessary, but I kind of wanted to showcase some of Lucy's spirits. Would love to hear your thoughts!