PLEASE READ THIS, IT'S IMPORTANT.

Pride: This is a shout-out to all those writers out there who think that canon pairings are over-rated. Some of us don't like canon pairings. Some of us have fallen in love at first sight with crack pairings. Either way, it's about time some things changed. If you are of the same mind, I invite you to just type your own alternate pairing story and name it "The Alternate Pairing Faction – (your own title)". I know that I'm asking a lot by requesting you standardize your titles, but damn, it's time we contributed more to the less-noticed alternate pairing base! XD It can be a normal romance fic, a parody or a rant. By the way, this idea just popped in my head so I decided to act upon it.

Very well, now on to the story. Enjoy. Remember to drop a review on your way out!

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN FAIRY TAIL OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS.

NOTE: Quite a number of you seem to think that this fic is meant to flame canon pairing fans and fics. If it seemed that way, then I apologise for it. My intention is not to offend or attack canon fans. I merely wish to encourage other non-canon writers to write more. I repeat, this story is not meant to attack, offend, or even discourage canon fans from reading what they may. To each your own, and I will not even try to convince you otherwise. Be assured, I am not at all against any of you reading the usual pairings, so please stop thinking that I am waging a war, or flaming you, and other strange stuff. That is not my intention.

Narrator's Perspective

'Thoughts'

"Speech"

"Attacks/Raised Voices"

Settings- Place and Time

Memories/ Diary Entries

The Alternate Pairing Faction – Origin

A Fairy Tail original fanfiction

The pen hung limply in the loose grip of his tired fingers. The uncapped tip of the instrument trailed slowly across the paper, leaving it smudged with dark blots of ink. The pen's owner was tired beyond measure, his head lolling forward without him even realizing it. His eyes drooped sleepily, as he repeatedly tried to rub the tiredness out of them only for his efforts to be in vain.

Groaning, he tried to sit up straight and continue working on his manga, his feeble efforts only serving to move his chair slightly backwards, making an irritating squeaking noise against the wooden tiles of the floor. The sound abruptly jerked him out of his trance-like state as he snapped his head upwards.

Crack.

The sound of the bones in his neck snapping into place resounded throughout the cramped room of his small apartment as he hissed at the sudden pain.

Gathering his consciousness, Hiro Mashima tried to focus on his latest project, "Fairy Tail".

"Uhhhh nooo…," he faintly mumbled, finally noticing the dark blots that ruined the latest chapter of his masterpiece. Brushing the ruined paper aside, he decided to redraw the chapter on a fresh piece of paper. Tired or not, he would not allow his masterpiece to be in anything but pristine condition.

His efforts were, however, for naught as his head rebelliously lolled forward again, hitting the table with a dull thud. The sudden motion caused to pen to be flipped off the table, the ink spilling out of it to coat a small portion of the floor in a dark, inky black colour.

Sighing audibly, he got off his wheeled chair and picked up his pen. He screwed its cap back on and set it on the table.

"*sigh*. Guess this chapter would have to wait until tomorrow morning, then. Pity, I was even planning to make Natsu confess to Lucy in this chapter too. Oh well, sleep comes first. The first tip to effective writing or in this case, manga-drawing, is sufficient sleep," he mumbled sleepily to himself, silently cursing his brain for slacking off on him.

Mashima then stretched, letting out a low moan as he felt the stiffness get forced out of his limbs and back. Allowing a satisfied sigh to escape his lips, he slowly trudged his way to his bed in the next room. The dull whirring of the ceiling fan lulled his already tired body to sleep, causing him to hit the ground with a loud thud.

"Owwww…," he stood up, rubbing his sore head.

Cursing lowly, he continued his laborious trek back to that bed of his that suddenly seemed as though it was located across a thousand hills and was being guarded by beasts of myth.

When he finally reached his glorious destination, sleep instantly took over his body and he fell asleep instantly as though he had been awake for five days straight.

Once he had completely slipped into the dream world of fairies and unicorns, he began to let out a faint snore. Hearing this, a dark shadow slipped the window of his study open and climbed in, careful to make as less noise as possible.

"Damn it! Why did this geezer have to buy a flat on the friggin' fifteenth floor of this godforsaken building?!" it cursed.

Finally getting in, it closed the windows to avoid letting in the gusts of wind that could ruin what he came here to do.

"Heh heh, he forgot to set his alarm clock. Just makes things easier for me, heehee," Pride chuckled as he tip-toed towards the table.

Settling himself comfortably on the chair, he held out his hands in front of him, muttering under his breath to avoid waking up the tenant of the house.

"Arc of Embodiment: Re-create"

Instantly, the sketches of the manga began to shift before his eyes to form different drawings that portrayed an entirely different storyline.

"Mira!" yelled Natsu to the attractive barmaid.

"Yes Natsu? Let me guess, you're hungry?" asked the kind woman, smiling sweetly at her friend.

"Yes! You know me so well! Can I have five orders of flaming chicken? And throw in a few bottles of Tabasco sauce too, please!" asked the pinkette, although he was uncharacteristically polite.

A couple of mages who were drinking in the corner sniggered; their resident fire dragon slayer was ever so predictable.

"My, my, Natsu, since when did you become so polite?" enquired the white-haired woman, giggling amusedly to herself.

"Since…she beat it into me…heheh," was the fire mage's reply, as he sheepishly laughed and scratched the back of his head.

At that moment, the slightest hint of a blush crawled its way onto his cheeks, which the ever-so observant barmaid noticed…not. And, Natsu was definitely grateful for that.

"I'll have to thank Erza later then," Mira laughed, walking into the kitchen to prepare the food.

Natsu happily munched on his chicken leg, bits of his meal flying in all directions, sending Mira into a fit of giggles. It seemed that no matter how many times he ate it, he would never tire of the dish.

Within minutes, the third leg of chicken had been stripped clean of its flesh and set aside on a plate. After letting out a loud burp, he contentedly patted his belly.

"Hey, Natsu," Mira's voice interrupted Natsu as he reached for his next chicken leg.

He turned his head to the side, his curious gaze landing on the attractive barmaid.

"Hm?"

"I was wondering, since I pretty much can guess the others…Gajeel probably likes Levy, Gray might secretly like Juvia. But…what about you? Do you like anyone?" she inquired, trying to confirm her suspicions that Natsu liked Lucy.

"Ummmm…yeahhhh…" he trailed off hesitantly, a light blush dusting his cheeks.

"Really?! Who?! Tell me! Tell meee!" she squealed.

"No," Natsu refused straight out, puffing out his cheeks.

"Awww. But I wanted to know really badly," she pouted.

"No."

"Fine, then at least tell me what she looks like," Mira tried to coax an answer out of him.

"No. I won't fall for that Mira," Natsu adamantly refused.

Her pout became more prominent.

"At least tell me what you like most about her! If you don't answer this, I'll tell everyone that you're gay!" she threatened him, frustrated.

When Natsu hesitated, she realized that threatening him would only serve to make him more reluctant to answer the question.

Changing tactics, she inwardly congratulated herself for her quick thinking.

Natsu felt pressured to answer under her irresistible puppy eyes, and finally caved in.

"Her…eyes. They're brown, just like my favourite chocolate. Not too light, not too dark. They're just the right hue. And when I look at them, I feel like I could keep staring at them all day long," he admitted, his cheeks now turning a bright red colour. No one had ever seen him blush that hard.

Mira squealed again.

"You llliiiikkkeeeee her!" chorused Mira along with Happy, who seemed to have materialized out of thin air.

Back in his dimension, Pride was snickering to himself in amusement.

"Heehee, looks like each of them doesn't even know what the other is talking about."

However, his snickering stirred Mashima slightly out of his deep sleep. Noticing the slight lowering in the volume of the man's snores, Pride quickly held his breath, letting it out in a huff of relief when the manga artist continued snoring away as though nothing had happened.

'Time to get back to the story…,' he thought, weaving his magic once again.

Still reeling from her excitement, Mira sprinted to Lucy's house to drag her to the guild and make Natsu confess to her. Happy sat on her shoulder, happily munching away on a piece of fish.

Meanwhile, Natsu was silently wondering whether it was a good idea to even tell Mira that much. Groaning, he hoped with all his heart that his lack of presence of mind didn't come back to bite him in the ass later.

"LUSHIII!" yelled Happy while Mira pounded incessantly on the blonde's door.

The Celestial mage groggily opened the door, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"Who i-…Mira? You do know that it's freaking seven-thirty in the morning, right?"

"But Lucyyyy, most people would be awake by this time. Sorry, I meant normal people," Happy snickered.

"Y-you damn cat!" Lucy lunged at him, sleep forgotten.

"Stop fighting, you two! I came here to bring you to the guild! Natsu wants to confess to you!"

At this point she had Lucy's full attention.

"You like him, don't you?" asked the white-haired matchmaker.

Lucy didn't answer, but the dark red blush on her cheeks was all the answer needed.

"Yes! Now hurry up and get ready!" the barmaid shooed her guildmate back into the house, determined to get her looking at her best for in the hopes that Natsu might even ask her out on a date that day.

Once Lucy was ready, Mira pushed her out of the house and all the way back to the guild.

Along their way, a variety of fruits and vegetables strewn about on the road, courtesy of Mira knocking down the vendors' produce in her excitement.

When they finally reached their destination, the blonde leaned on her knees to catch her breath.

Mira went straight up to the pink-haired dragon slayer and dragged him by the back of his shirt to face Lucy.

"Do it!" she said.

For the longest time, Natsu stood puzzled, wondering what in the world Mira was talking about. Then, slowly, realization began to dawn on his face, as his eyes brightened up. Mira had brought Lucy to help give him advice in love matters! Or that's what he thought…

"That's a great idea, Mira!" he said happily.

"Hey, Luce, umm…there's this girl I like…but I dunno how to confess to her. What should I do? Do I just tell her? Do I have to buy her anything, like flowers?" he asked hesitantly, hoping that he was doing the right thing by divulging his secret before the entire guild.

By this point, all the guild members had turned around to witness the scene, thinking that Natsu was going to make his feelings for Lucy known. Some wolf-whistled, cheering for them.

"Whooo! You go Natsu!" cheered Cana before returning to her precious barrel of beer and showering her love upon it.

'Calm down Lucy…maybe he's just trying to get to know how you would like him to tell you that he's in love with you. While I'd like something romantic, I also can't wait to hear it from him, so I guess this will have to do,' thought the Stellar Spirit mage.

"Y-you could just tell her straight out. There's no need for flowers or anything…" she trailed off with a blush.

"Okay! I'll go tell her right now then!" yelled Natsu happily.

'Huh? Who? What? What's he talking about?' wondered every single guild member present, Lucy included.

"Tell whom and what, Natsu?" drifted in the calm voice of Erza Scarlet, as she strolled into the guild, her curious eyes roving over the guild mates who seemed confused, finally landing on the trio in the middle of the guild.

Natsu gulped audibly. He hadn't counted on Erza walking in at that exact moment, but he guessed that would have to do. Steeling his resolve, he decided to make his feelings known, knowing that he would regret it later if he didn't act upon them.

"Erza…I've been thinking for a while now, but just didn't know how to say it to you. But, now I've decided to say it outright, because I don't wanna regret not telling you sooner."

"I love you, Erza Scarlet."

Said scarlet-haired mage's cheeks flared up a bright red in response, and she was rendered speechless.

"I love your chocolate-brown eyes, your long silky scarlet hair, and basically everything about you! Will you be my girlfriend? Damn…the only thing missing now is a bunch of roses, but guess this would have to make do," he finally said, feeling as though a great load had been lifted off his chest.

"I-I-," she stuttered, not knowing what to say. However, the man who confessed to her seemed to take this as a negative sign.

"It's okay if you don't feel the same way, Erza. I know you liked Jellal, but if you still like him, then I'll wait for you, no matter how long it takes. Even if you never feel the same way for me, I promise I'll stand by your side and protect you forever, because underneath that tough armour of yours, I know you have a beautiful, but fragile heart," he said with his eyes downcast in disappointment.

Now realizing that Natsu had taken her hesitation to be a negative response, Erza decided to clear up his doubts, steadying herself.

"Natsu. I never said that I still like Jellal, did I? I may have liked him before, but that was just puppy love. I have now moved on, and found someone to care for. Someone who will care for me just as much. It's you, Natsu. Even though you may be childish at times, I don't care. I love everything about you too. Natsu Dragneel, of course I will be your girlfriend," she spoke softly, her eyes shining with adoration and happiness.

Natsu finally looked up in wonder, unable to believe that the girl of his dreams was reciprocating his feelings.

He lunged at her, tackling her in a hug.

"Erza, I'll pick you up later at 11 okay? I've got somewhere special for us to go," he mumbled to her embarrassedly.

"Sure. It's a date then," replied Erza, sporting a massive blush of her own.

The two of them then left the guild to go and prepare for their date.

The jaws of all the guild members lay unhinged on the guild's floor, having witnessed something that they would never have expected to happen.

Seven hours later found Lucy slumped over the bar, completely hammered. Several empty bottles of expensive gin lay on the bar top, rolling about and clinking against each other. With a mighty effort on her part, Lucy somehow managed to lift her glass to her lips and took another long, deep draught of the liquid.

She wished to drink her sorrows away, but even after more than fifteen bottles of her favourite alcoholic drink, she couldn't forget what had happened.

'Those two are probably being all kissy and lovey-dovey somewhere in Magnolia…," she thought, sinking deeper into her trench of depression.

She then let out a piercing wail, anime tears streaming down her face. Her incessant wail, save for several hiccups in between, caused many of the guild members to flee the guild hall.

Roll.

Smash.

One of the bottles rolled off the table's surface and fell onto the floor, smashing into a thousand pieces.

"*sniff* T-that *hic* d-down there *hic* ish my h-heart *sniff*" mumbled Lucy incoherently, letting her head hit the table and wailing miserably once more.

In the cellar of the guild where all the beer was kept, Mira was crying up a flood. Literally.

The entire cellar was flooded with her salty tears that it would've made Juvia jealous.

Sobbing miserably, she rubbed at her eyes, not caring whether her makeup got smudged.

'I've failed this time…not once but TWICE! I thought Natsu would end up with Lucy…that didn't happen. I thought Erza would end up with Jellal…that didn't happen either! I'm a complete failure! UWAAAAHHHHHH!' She wailed once more, not hearing the sound of the cellar door being opened.

A dark figure fell right into the overflowing salty liquid, frantically flailing its arms to get out of it and sputtering to rid its mouth of the tears.

"M-Mira! What the hell!" yelled Cana; why did she have to end up in this mess? She only came down to get some beer!

Back in the creators' dimension, Pride let out a sigh of relief, stretching to ease the soreness out of his limbs.

The first hints of daylight started to appear. Shimmering golden rays of sunlight streamed in through the curtains.

'Just a little more to go…I still need to write the romance scene…,' thought Pride in determination, readying himself to get to work once again.

Over in the other room, Mashima finally awoke from his deep slumber. Hearing him stretch, Pride began to panic.

'Aaahhh gotta go! But I still haven't finished the story!' he thought.

'Nevermind. I can't be seen by him. Even if I don't manage to finish this, other writers will continue this noble work,' he decided.

Pushing himself roughly off the chair, Pride wrenched the windows open and leapt out of it, not noticing the mess of ink on the ground in his haste.

Sunlight lit up the entire room in its warm glow, as Mashima carried out his morning routine.

After taking his bath, Mashima went to his study to find the windows wide open and a mess of ink on his tiled floors.

There were ink-covered footsteps leading towards the window, where they mysteriously vanished.

He also noticed that his manga had been completed.

'Nobody can survive after jumping from this height. Which means that this person is no human!' he thought.

'And my latest chapter is completed too! This reminds me of an old story, "The Elves and the Shoemaker"'

'Time to go publish this latest chapter!' he decided without even looking at the contents of the latest chapter. Oh lucky Pride.

Quite close to the building, Pride leaned against a tree trunk, grinning at his latest accomplishment.

"Oh, don't worry. This is not the end. It is merely the beginning of what is to come," he said to himself.

Pride: Yeah, finished! So, guys, fellow fanfiction writers who wish to see more of alternate pairing fics, join me in writing more of such fics! Together, we shall form a new world of alternate pairings!

*ahem* Speech over.

Thanks for reading, do review and write stories of your own!

- Yours truly, Pride

The first sin.