Tail Of A Fairy

09.

"Thanks again, Juvia." Lucy said as the two brides-to-be walked into yet another wedding dress shop.

"Lucy-san, it is nothing for Juvia to accompany her friend in wedding dress shopping. Especially since you are not marrying Gray-sama, and so will no longer be Juvia's love rival!" She squealed the last part.

"Right..." Lucy groaned. "I was never your love rival. It's-" She paused and sighed. "It's always been Natsu for me. But sometimes he can just — ugh — make me so mad!"

Juvia nodded knowingly. "Yes, yes. Natsu-san is certainly romantically stupid. Juvia thinks he should just — ooh!" She squealed as she pointed out a dress.

The dress was a slim fitting one, from bust to ankle. Lucy groaned inwardly. She didn't like how constricting it looked. But Juvia went closer to it, and when she touched the fabric she squealed. It was a shiny fabric, but in the right light it had the pattern of scales. As Juvia ran her hand over the scales, they each responded with a subtle changing rainbow. The neckline was a sweetheart neckline, although it dipped low between the two breasts. It had off the shoulder short sleeves made with lace. It was a simple dress, but beautifully patterned.

"Lucy-san!" Juvia squealed. "Juvia must try this on! Join Juvia!"

She grabbed Lucy's hand and dragged her to the back of the store with the dress flowing behind them. As Juvia claimed a stall, Lucy found a seat. It was a nice seat, and well padded. Closing her eyes, she mentally prepared herself to see the price on the dress.

Juvia peeked her face out of the stall. "Lucy-san, come see Juvia."

Standing, Lucy made her way to join her friend. And she paused. "Juvia! It's amazing!"

The dress hugged all of her curves in the perfect way. It emphasized her wave-like figure, and the scales complemented her blue hair as it rolled down her back. There was a small veil that sat atop Juvia's head with a little silver crown. Ironically and perfectly the crown was studded with blue jewels. Juvia had no problem turning around for Lucy to see the dress in its full magnificence.

"Should Juvia buy it?" She questioned.

Without a word, Lucy nodded.

Squealing again, Juvia pushed Lucy out of the change room stall. As Lucy tumbled back, she fell on a mannequin. And the mannequin pulled with it a dress bag that had been hidden on a top shelf. The crash summoned two of the employees to the back. Lucy slowly pushed herself up, apologizing to the workers.

"It's okay." One said as they picked up the mannequin's arm. "You didn't break the mannequin or anything else."

"And this dress was to be thrown out anyway. No one wants to buy it." The other one folded the dress in her arms, a sad smile on her face.

"Really?" Lucy didn't believe that there was ever a wedding dress that someone didn't want. "Let me see it."

Halfheartedly the worker pulled out the dress. Lucy took it into her own hands carefully and turned it around, held it up to her own figure, and held it out in front of her.

"It looks amazing! Please let me try it on!" She hugged the dress to her chest tightly, not wanting to let go of the treasure that she had found.

The employees agreed, and Lucy rushed to try it on just as Juvia came out of her stall. The blue woman paused curiously as Lucy changed quickly. Just like how Lucy was called, Juvia was called into the stall. Unanimously the girls squealed. They had found their perfect wedding dresses.

Carefully they folded the dresses in boxes at the counter. They wasted no time in paying for their purchase. Both wanted to get home once more and try on their dress again.

"I can't believe how well that went!" Lucy squealed.

"Juvia cannot wait for Gray-sama to see her in this dress!"

Lucy paused to ponder. How would Natsu react to me wearing this?

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

"No!" Natsu cried in fury. "I don't wanna wear this death trap!"

"Shut it flame brain!" Gray fumed. "I gotta wear one too! Besides, what would Lucy think if you showed up to your own wedding wearing casual clothes?"

From in the hall, a white haired woman entered the groom's room. She smiled, but both the men could tell that behind her smile there was a death threat. "Natsu," Mira cooed. "Leave the tie alone."

Swallowing carefully, Natsu righted himself. He sat up straight on his chair ad allowed Mira to straighten his tie. As she moved away from him, Natsu could see the mirror in front of him. There he was, face cleaned and hair brushed (although it still spiked up — there was no way to tame it). He wore formal black pants and a button up white shirt. There was the dreaded black tie and a black vest. Gray was wearing almost the same, but he had a white bow-tie and a dark grey jacket. Both of the men looked at each other, their eyes wide with disbelief. There they were, in Cardia Cathedral about to marry the love of their lives.

"So, Gray," Natsu looked up at him shyly, which put Gray off slightly. "What do you do when you get married?"

Gray tried to conceal a laugh. "I'm not falling for that trick, Flamer."

Squirming, Natsu replied. "No, serious. What do you do when you get married?"

Both Mira and Gray looked at the pink haired mage with disbelief. "Natsu you idiot, you got this far without thinking of that? You didn't think of asking Lucy either?"

"Well... Lucy always gets mad when I ask stupid questions."

Gray face palmed forcefully. "You're a bloody idiot. You knew you didn't know what marriage implied, and you also knew it was a stupid question. Yet you decided to propose?"

"Natsu..." Mira said gently. "You know how Alzack and Bisca are, right?" He nodded. "Well, it's basically that."

Natsu nodded, despite not really understanding. He couldn't ever imagine acting like Alzack, or Lucy acting like Bisca. He doubted Lucy would ever touch a gun.

"Yo, Ice Queen, Salamander," Gajeel stuck his head in. "It's time for the ceremony to start. You two idiots better get ready to walk down the aisle."

Standing slowly, Natsu and Gray made their way to the sanctuary. The sanctuary where the guild waited, and they would receive their brides for the first time.