Just Us & Your Ghost (Nessa/Louie)

I have died everyday waiting for you, Darling don't be afraid
I have loved you for a thousand years, I'll love you for a thousand more
Nessa Cordelia Lux

The bar quickly erupted into a scene of chaos. The moment Cassie threw herself at Nessa, her body launched into self-defence mode. Sidestepping the girls attack, and throwing her right arm out, latching her hand around her wrist. Nessa would turn her body, using her left palm to grab the back of the girl's neck. With one swift motion, Nessa would turn her body, pulling the girl along with her. She would steer her toward the table, yanking her down all the while pushing her face down at the same time. The force of which would give Nessa the momentum to slam Cassie's face against the table with a hard snap.

Nessa would let go of Cassie, stepping back and observing as the girl collected herself. "Wanna reconsider?" Nessa suggested her tone challenging, four years had passed since their last bout. During which Nessa had received plenty of combat training, her hand to hand combat, in particular, had been the first thing she had learned. She knew full well that Cassie had no chance, the issue was, she knew how relentless Cassie could be. The girl would too proud to do anything that would make her lose face. So, as expected she turned on Nessa again, wiping the fresh blood that spewed from her nose before charging once again.

The onslaught of scrapping that ensued was nothing short of manic, Cassie would swipe and claw at her. And Nessa was parry every hit, slapping away her hits in easy fashion. The girl's attacks were uncoordinated and messy, much like everyone else in this bar. At this point, it was difficult to tell who was fighting who, people were pulled into the drama and a lot of them were just throwing punches without knowing why. Nessa ducked the swipe of Cassie's clawed hand, before jutting her right fist into the girl's gut with a firm jab. Cassie reeled over wheezing from the hit and stumbling back a step.

Nessa could hear Louie shouting from somewhere amid the madness, but didn't really have enough time to glance over to him. As all of a sudden one of the girls Nessa had gone to school with, known as Heather, would jump toward her. Making a scrappy attempt to pull Nessa's hair, Nessa quickly countered this by turning toward her. Kicking her leg forward and sweeping it behind her knees. All the while, abruptly shoving her backwards over her leg. The force of which would knock the girl off her feet, forcing her into the ground with a hard crash.

Nessa turned just in time to see Cassie coming at her with a bottle in hand. The white-haired girl would roll her eyes, her body glowing with golden light. As the bottle came down on her head, it would smash against the shield that she had covered herself in. "You won't win. Not this time Cassie." She told her over all the chanting that would begin. She could hear Louie's encouraging her, saying things that would only cause the Fairy Tail Ace to grin. It felt good to have someone back her, especially with the monumental importance of this moment. Finally being able to face Cassie, to put her truth out and deal with the sadness that had been buried inside her for the longest time. To tear out her secret and set it alight, letting it burn and screwing the consequence.

Cassie threw her hand up at again, this time Nessa would catch it, twisting it in her grip and cause the girl to arch with it. Cassie looked up at her, her gaze burning with intense hatred. Lifting her chin, she would spit at Nessa. Up until this point, Nessa had managed to stay surprisingly calm, but the moment that this girl made such revolting action toward her, she snapped. No longer holding back, Nessa would take the girl by the hair, and drag her down onto her knees. Wrapping her fingers around the strands to get a better grip, she turned her face up toward her. "Go to hell Cassie." Letting go of her wrist, she pulled her fist back and brought it crashing into Cassie's face. Pulling it back and delivering two more merciless punches, the force of which would cause the girl's head to lull back as she slipped into unconsciousness. Nessa let her go, watching her fall to the floor with a hard thump, before looking up toward Louie and flashing him a victorious grin. So this was what it was like to go toe to toe with one's demons?

Honestly, it felt really good.

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WC: 766  Thread total: 16,661

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The crowd broke into a booming crescendo of Oo's! and Ohh's! as they watched Cassie's body slump to the ground after her face was clocked with a few solid punches from Nessa. After that, the loonies that flocked around Cassie suddenly had lost interest in brawling it out with these two, instead deciding to anxiously inch over to her unconscious body, shaking it in hopes that she'd awaken. She would, eventually. In the meantime, everyone was taking videos, chattering about it and all of that as staff tried to regain control over the horde of people who acted closer to high schoolers than adults.

When Nessa shot that victorious grin over at him, Louie returned the same triumphant smirk, haughty and confident in all of its glory as he walked over to her. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder, turned them around, and lifted his iLac high enough so that they were taking a few selfies hovered over Cassie's unconscious body and her jock friends apprehensively trying to wake her. After a few snapshots, he slipped his iLac away and immediately proceeded to ruffle her hair with a devilish grin on his face. He didn't care if it messed it up.

"Petit porcelet!" Louie snickered. There were few times that he had felt satisfaction from seeing others achieve things, but this felt like one of those moments. Hell, it wouldn't have been a stretch to say that he was a little proud, too. He knew the sweet taste of triumph that came from silencing all the voices that doubted you and told you that you were nothing. The rich satisfaction of rising when everyone was so sure that they had broken your wings. The release of vengeance when all those who did you wrong were now suddenly suffering at no other's hand but your own. Louie knew it well and lived to feel those things time and time after again, believing that the only way to go was up. For a long time, he had only seen himself through this lens of victory, but for the first time in a long while, he couldn't help but feel proud that Nessa got to taste those same things, even if it was a only little bit. "Got it off of your chest now? Pfftaha!"

"Y-YOU! GET OUT!" barked a middle-aged man's voice, finally heard over the crowd's thunderous chatter. He forced his way through the crowd with the help of some skinny waiters, and marching forth was a balding man who couldn't have been bigger than five feet and three inches. What was left of his black hair around the rim of his head was messy and just a few hairs out of place, and he looked like he was about to have an aneurysm judging by how red his face was. His tie was a little off-center and he gritted his teeth like there was nothing left to lose as he stomped up to Nessa and Louie, looking up at them with steam practically blowing out of his ears. Suddenly the crowd quieted down, looking at the obvious owner of the establishment with curious eyes. "Look at what you've done to my precious Babylon!"

"Pfft... I... fht... okay, well, first of all, don't raise your voice at me and if you get any closer, my clothes will begin to smell like you and you probably can't even afford to dry clean this brand," Louie quipped, recovering from his laughter as he transitioned into his usual self-importance. He carefully pushed the much shorter man away from them with the firm shove of a finger against their forehead, looking at him with a nasty, condescending glare and a quizzical smirk to match the snobbish malice.

"This is outrageous! My food, my chairs, and my tables! My tables—oh God, my tables!" The balding man's hands sunk into his hair, squeezing as a few broken tables and legless chairs lay littered out before him in a spread of chaos and destruction, drinks splashed out across the floor and the fine porcelain that once made up a glossy white bowl shattered into hundreds of little pieces. The color drained from the balding man's face as horror overcame him, but when Louie looked around to behold the mess that he had created, he only looked mildly surprised. It was a completely different type of satisfaction and excitement when he saw the destruction in this little corner of the bar, whisking him away from the disgust he felt when talking to the owner back into a wave of pride and joy from Nessa's outburst. The nasty look on his face softened a bit, and his malicious smirk wavered into a suppressed smile. "Th...This cost a fortune! Do you hear me?! A fortune! How are you going to repay me?!"

"Who knew you had it in you? Mon petit porcelet!" Louie was grinning now, completely turning away from the balding owner to grab either of Nessa's cheeks and pull them playfully, watching as her face would contort to his little movements. He had never seen such a thing from her before, and it felt like nothing could sour his mood today after something like that. But when the owner's face was turning an even deeper shade of red, Louie looked at him with another nasty face. "Huh? What? Yeah, yeah. Don't piss your panties—hold on."

He pulled out nothing other than his checkbook with a small pen attached with a thin string of metal. It probably wasn't something most people carried around until they had a lot of money, and it wasn't uncommon for Louie to find himself in jewel-demanding trouble, so he started carrying checkbooks with him when he turned sixteen for times just like these. With an impatient, irritated stare, the blonde leaned over the balding owner and placed the checkbook on the crown of his head, scribbling away at the dids and dads of the check before cleanly ripping it from the booklet and handing it to him with a disinterested gaze.

"You little...!" the owner fumed, choking up on his anger as he snatched the check away and looked over the details like a steaming bull. But once his eyes gleamed over the amount, his jaw dropped and all of the redness faded away into his skin's natural brown gloss. "F-Five-hundred-thousand... hooooly..."

"I added a little extra, so the next time we come here, we'll get free drinks, oui? Hello? Are you listening?"

"Huh... yeah... right, right. Of course... yeah... five-hundred-thou—my God...! I could have my dream vacation in Dongxia with this! Dongxian women... would be all over me... and my business...!"

"Gross," Louie made a visible cringe, looking back at Nessa whose cheeks he was still subconsciously fondling, before he stopped and smirked. For a moment, he didn't say anything. It felt like sharing just a little of his confident, victorious expression was enough to get his feelings of mild pride across. It was only a brief moment before he spoke again. "I think Officer Douche is still nearby. Let's get out of here, d'accord?"

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I have died everyday waiting for you, Darling don't be afraid
I have loved you for a thousand years, I'll love you for a thousand more
Nessa Cordelia Lux

The adrenaline that was very much fuelling Nessa was still coursing through her at this point, her heart pounded erratically in her chest and honestly, it felt entirely euphoric. To have bested Cassie, after the cruel way in which she had treated her. It was just so uplifting; the only shame was that Markus wasn’t here to see it. She would register Louie’s arm around her shoulder, her victorious smile still plastered across her face, she blinked at him unsure of what he was doing until she saw him raise his phone and take selfies. Suddenly a little conscious of the behaviour, Nessa glanced away sheepishly, not sure if this was entirely appropriate but too pleased with the endeavour to tell him to stop.

Nessa could only smile at Louie as he addressed her, nodding at his words. Somehow she had lost hers, still not sure how to process what had just happened except for the fact that it had been unbelievable cathartic. That would only last so long, however, as a man began to shout at them, guilt quickly raking over Nessa at the realisation of how much chaos they had caused - even though it was mainly Cassie's fault. She glanced at Louie, then back at the man, unsure of how to rectify the situation, she was too flustered to think straight right now. It was all so hectic!

Louie quickly got into it with the man, using his harsh words to counter the man's accusations, Nessa began to panic as the thought of the consequences came to mind. What if they called the Rune Knights? What if they got arrested? How would she explain this to Mythal and Serilda! A part of her was sure that they would understand but the prospect of causing trouble for her friends would cause the girl to quickly spiral. All she could do was stare bewilderedly at Louie as he laughed at the man's anger and began to play with her face like one would a kids toy. Nessa couldn't help but think that Louie was trying to make it worse until he paused in his jesting to write a cheque for the man. With a number on it that apparently seemed high enough to calm the man immediately, Nessa glanced back at Louie. Just how much did he have that he could throw it away so easily and change a person's entire life?

Still, relieved that the trouble was over, Nessa nodded at his suggestion and began to make her way out of the club - leaving the chaos behind her. Once they were outside, Nessa turned to Louie. "I'm sorry you had to pay out for my drama, I can pay you back if you like... in instalments maybe..."

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WC: 462  Thread total: 18,305