The Engagement Game

Remember?

It had been a while since the Grand Magic Games. After all the crazy events which had happened, Lucy Heartfilia was finally ready to get back to work. She'd taken a request to catch some wizards who stole from a magic shop in Clover Town as a solo mission, rather than dragging Natsu and Happy along with her. The wizards were described as weak and inexperienced; which was likely the reason they stole magic items in the first place.

Lucy arrived in the town. Making her way around, she came across the shop that had been robbed. The shop manager was kind enough to point her in the right direction, helping her to locate the thieving wizards. After walking about the area, the blonde mage heard giggling and whispers around the corner. She leaned against the wall and grabbed her keys, preparing to attack if this was in fact where the thieves were hiding.

"Come on already! Give me the loot so we can high-tail it outta here!" She heard a male's voice speak.

"Now hold on just a second," interrupted a female. "I'm the one who managed to take it, so shouldn't I be the one to bring it back to the boss?"

"This is definitely them..." Lucy whispered to herself, holding up a golden key. "Okay. Now open, gate of the golden bull; Taurus!"

In the blink of an eye, Lucy's faithful celestial spirit appeared before her, the all too usual perverted look in his eyes.

"How can I help you, miss Luucy?"

"We've got some trash to take out!" She grinned at her friend, now coming into the wizard thieves' sight and pointing at them.
Taurus nodded, understanding what to do.

"Time to get a Moove on! As soon as they're gone, I'll get a good look at your hot body!" With a few swings of his axe, most of the wizards were already down for the count. There were only about fifteen gathered around at most, but to both Lucy and Taurus' surprise, another whole group of them came from inside the building behind them.

"Taurus, look out!" Lucy shouted, but it was too late; six of the wizards attacked at once, shooting fiery beams at the bull.

Thankfully, he was able to use his axe to block a few of the hits, but once they were aimed at Lucy, the spirit had hopped in front of her to take the fall. Lucy hated when her celestial spirits acted as her shield, but she was thankful nonetheless.

"Looks like I'll have to admire your body later!" Taurus' voice faded, along with his presence.

The mages themselves weren't all that powerful, but with so many of them, their strength exceeded her own. Now without Taurus' help, Lucy panically reached for another key, but her hand was stopped by a larger one, who's middle finger wore a golden ring.

"No need for that, lovely. I'm already by your side." The handsome lion spirit, Leo, spoke with a slight smirk. "So, have you made up your mind yet?"

"Loke!" Lucy smiled, but then gave him a puzzled expression, raising a questioning eyebrow. "Made up my mind? About what?"

Loke swiftly dodged attacks that came firing from the wizards around him. He used his Regulus Impact on a couple, sending both them and the lines piling up behind them flying away. What was left in that area, he took out with nothing but his fists and hand to hand combat skills. "My question, of course. During the Grand Magic Games, remember?"

"What?" Lucy grunted in annoyance. More of the enemies were already closing in. "Look, just fight now and we'll talk about this later, okay?!"

The spirit nodded in agreement and helped Lucy to fight off the remaining thieves. After a short while, all that remained of the group of wizards, (besides the ones that were scattered and unconscious,) was the items they left on the ground before fleeing the area. Lucy proudly picked up the stolen items and placed them safely inside a bag.

"That ought to show 'em. Thanks for your help Loke, you can go home now." The blonde said appreciatively, then began walking back towards the small magic shop, but the lion stepped in front of her.

"Not so fast, beautiful. I was promised a talk, was I not?" He asked, looking down on Lucy, who was significantly shorter than him.

"Oh, that's right... can I bring back the stolen things first, though?" She asked with a smile he couldn't say no to.

The man huffed, "I guess I can wait another few minutes." He suddenly leaned in, very close to Lucy's face, leaving hardly an inch between their lips. She could feel his warm breath, making her blush as he grinned, "don't be too long. Although I have the time, you can't keep me waiting forever." He winked before quickly disappearing, back to the spirit world.

Lucy would have slapped him right in the face if it weren't for her body tensing up. She started on her way back to the man working at the shop, but with that strange encounter, it was hard for her to keep her focus. "What was that about..?"

After walking back to the main part of town and dropping off the magic items, Lucy was given her reward money and headed out on her way. Before she left though, she stopped at a small restaurant near the town exit, sitting at one of the outdoor tables. She sat reversely in the chair, so the table was behind her, allowing her to lean against it as she reluctantly picked up Leo's key.

"Open, gate of the lion-" before she could even finish calling on him, the celestial spirit had appeared, giving Lucy his signature dashing smile.

He chuckled, "you called~?"

"What's this you wanted to talk about?" She ignored the seductive tone in his voice, wanting to get straight to the point.

"Do you remember what I asked you during the Grand Magic Games?" He sat down and smoothly hung his arm around Lucy's shoulder, earning a slight push from her.

"No, I don't." She looked to him with curiosity, with a hint of annoyance subsisted in her tone. "Remind me what exactly the question was?"

Loke took a quick look around, noticing a few people nearby. He shrugged, taking Lucy's hand and bending down on one knee before her. "Will you marry me?"

Suddenly, the shade of Lucy's cheeks put Loke's red tie to shame. She fidgeted in shock and embarrassment, listening to the people around start cooing at the two of them.

No words from Lucy's mouth came to make sense, for she'd turned into a stuttering, blushing mess. "I... but... you..."

The celestial spirit smirked, feeling successful about the way Lucy had gotten so flustered.

"Y-you can't-" she took a look at the people who were staring, waiting for her answer. Suddenly, a scene from not too long ago came to mind;

She felt herself be lifted off her feet, quite literally. Her golden-blonde hair swayed in the wind as her she was carried through the air with his strong arms. His white suit, ginger hair and the piercing green eyes that hid behind his glasses were almost too much. His appearance was nothing less than stunning, but his words were what caught her off guard,

"Hey. I've got a question for ya, will you marry me?"