Hi, hello! Shadowmistx98 here! XD

Well, just had the feels to do a NaLu AU fanfic and since I'm kinda bored... sooo... I hope you guys enjoy! Excuse me for errors. For some reason, I've been typing Maka's name instead of Lucy's while making this fic, I may have missed some to change =.=

Warnings: Slight OOC, AU, Oneshot

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.

Lucy gripped her shoulder bag tightly as she breathed out deeply.

She worriedly looked around as she walked towards her school.

Another morning. Another day. Another Flare Corona bullying her today.

Lucy sighed again. Rhyme not intended.

But…. Whatever…

What does Flare want with her anyway? She was popular and had a lot of friends. She has long pretty hair though I can't say much compliments about her face… She looks creepy when smiling, and has pale complexion.

Flare's the main reason why she's being ignored through-out the whole school! Because of her influence, she's brainwashed a whole lot of Lucy's classmates to think otherwise of her.

Lucy didn't understand though. Flare has a bad reputation with teachers, fails most of her tests, skips classes, etcetera, etcetera… But Lucy, she was praised by teachers, aces almost of her tests and is always full attendance.

How come people are way too dumb to notice the difference between them?

She blinked her eyes a few times before entering the school grounds. Fairy Tail Academy. She went to her class with caution, looking at her sides to see if Flare was near her.

Luckily, she wasn't.

Lucy has stayed quiet the whole classes, listening attentively with the lessons discussed in front of the room. But even though she already studied the lessons in advance, she still listened.

Hours passed, and Lucy hurriedly went to the cafeteria to avoid… Well… Her.

She bought some food and sat across a table to eat.

She was all alone.

Lucy felt comfortable. No one bothered her.

But when she was half-way done with her food, a familiar voice called her name.

A horribly familiar voice.

"Oh my gosh…" Lucy dropped her spoon and massaged her forehead.

Then, out of the corner of her eyes, she saw long red hair, dangling across the table.

"What's up pipsqueak?"

Lucy hesitantly looked up at her. There she saw her creepy smile.

Lucy sighed as the two girls with Flare laughed.

"I don't want any trouble, Flare… If you want my money, I don't have any. If you want my food, you can have it…" Lucy slid her bowl towards Flare.

Flare raised an eyebrow. "Why would I want some of your dirty little food?"

Flare threw it to Lucy causing bits of rice and vegetables stain her polo shirt. Lucy stood up and tried clean her top. Flare and the group of girls laughed.

This caught the students' attention. They saw what happened. Lucy eventually gave up and looked around her with bowed head.

Some laughed. Some with sad looks on their faces.

A tear rolled on Lucy's cheeks.

Humiliation.

Flare's specialty.

Is everyday going to be like this?

Lucy turned her back to leave.

"Aaw, little Lucy's about to leave, hahahaha!" Flare laughed.

No.

Just no.

Everyday, Lucy endured this kind of bullying. She didn't like it.

She just had to stand up for her own. At least one time.

Lucy turned towards Flare again, causing quizzical looks on their faces. Lucy took her water bottle and splashed it to Flare's face.

"Urgh! What the hell!?" Flare gritted her teeth and glared at her.

"You don't need to ask what's hell, Flare. Because I'm already looking at it!" Lucy turned her back immediately and walked away.

Flare's face was shocked with what happened. The students looked surprised as well.

Laughter followed. But not in Lucy's sake. This time, it was Flare's turn to be laughed at.

Lucy ran away. She felt a little guilty. It wasn't in her nature to talk like that but at the same time, she felt good.

But the humiliation. It was so depressing.

She ran to the back of the school campus and cried there.

She wanted to be alone.

Just to get away from all the things that bothered her, just for once.

She continued to cry with face buried in her hands.

"Hey…"

Lucy twitched. Did someone just say 'hey' to her?

She slowly looked on her right side and saw a guy with pink spiky hair sitting next to her.

"Ah! What on earth are you doing here!?" Lucy backed away slowly.

"Sheesh, don't shout. I was here first, anyway" he scratched his head and adjusted his white scarf.

Lucy gulped at the sight of him. She recognized him.

He was one of the known delinquents of Fairy Tail. Always picking fights, failing grades, gangster persona.

"This guy!? Great, I escaped from Flare now I have to deal with this guy. What was his name? It starts with an 'N'…" Lucy sweated as she looked at him.

"What?" the guy slouched from his seat as he looked at Lucy.

"I-I-I-!" Lucy stuttered. She didn't know what to say.

"Why are you crying?" the boy asked, leaning a little forward towards her.

Lucy's eyes went wide. "Um… Excuse me? Are you asking me?"

Lucy couldn't believe what she just heard. Surely this guy wouldn't be concerned of her well-being… Would he?

"Yeah, I'm asking you. What happened?" the guy asked again.

Lucy swallowed hard before answering. "Um… I, uum… Bullies…" she pointed at her stained shirt.

He nodded. "An you ran away from them?"

Lucy shrugged. "I managed to spill some water on her and trash talk for a bit…"

The guy laughed loudly. Lucy gulped.

"You know I met some bullies earlier"

Lucy raised an eyebrow. "Is this guy trying to have a conversation with me?"

Well, whatever he's doing, Lucy decided to play along with it, knowing she might be dead if he pisses him off.

"What did you do then?" she asked.

"I kicked their asses" he grinned causing Lucy to back away a little bit.

"They were easy, anyway" he boastfully said.

They stayed silent for a while.

"Oh, yeah, my name's Natsu" he stretched a hand to Lucy. She looked at it, then to him.

He chuckled. "Don't worry, I don't bite. I'm not what you think I am, if I'm intimidating you that is"

With Natsu's words, Lucy felt at ease. Maybe her first impression of him wasn't so bad at all.

"Lucy…" she accepted his hand shake.

"So… Natsu… What are you doing here?" she asked. Natsu sighed but didn't answer.

"Skipping classes?" Lucy asked. Natsu looked at her which made her shake in fear.

"Oops, shouldn't have asked that!" Lucy thought.

He sighed again. "Well, I don't know what to do anymore… I've been in detention too much lately… Failing grades, fights and stuff… I admit, I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed but… My dad's going to kill me once he finds out"

Lucy looked at him. "Haven't you tired studying?"

"Nah, books are so boring to read…"

A nerve appeared on Lucy's forehead. "Then how can you learn if you don't read!?"

Natsu slouched and looked from afar. "Meh… Not much motivations"

Lucy sighed. "Well, if you're getting into fights, you could just ignore those who provoke you"

"Nah, they deserve to be punched by my awesome fist" Natsu grinned goofily.

Lucy sighed again. "Geez, now wonder you get into detention a lot…" she whispered.

"But this is who I am" Natsu said. "Though, my dad always puts up with me. I hate to disappoint him somehow"

Lucy looked at his face. He looked a bit sad. Lucy didn't know why, but she had the urge to offer her help.

"Look, I don't know if I can help since you consider reading as boring but I can offer my assistance during studying" Lucy said.

"Eh?"

"I'll let you know, I'm an honor student" Lucy said while smiling, quite confident with her abilities.

Natsu looked at her then laughed. Lucy pouted.

"What's so funny?" she asked.

Natsu shook his head. "Nothin', it's just that you're the only one who offered to help me this kind of help"

Lucy looked at him.

"I could use a little help" Natsu grinned. Lucy smiled.

"That's great then" Lucy said.

"What favor would you like me to do? I feel bad not doing anything in return" Natsu scratched his head.

Lucy smiled at him sweetly. "You've already done me a great favor. Just talking to you made me forget my little problems with bullying… Thank you, Natsu"

Natsu was a little surprised at what she said, but he eventually smiled back.

"Well, just don't forget that I've got your back covered" Natsu said. Lucy smiled and nodded.

"And about that bully, don't be afraid for standing up for yourself. What she's about to get is what she deserves. And don't be afraid to talk about some of your problems with me. I'm your friend, right?" Natsu smiled.

Lucy nodded again. "Right"

She stood up. "I'm going back… I might be late for class"

"How about you?" she looked at him.

"I think I'll pass today"

Lucy glared at him. "See? That's why you're always getting failing marks and detentions!"

Natsu raised his right hand. "This is my last time! I promise! I'll be in full attendance tomorrow!"

Lucy crossed her arms and exhaled deeply. "Well, if you ever want to study with me, you can find me in the library after class, ok?"

"Yeah, sure" Natsu leaned back and waved a hand to Lucy.

"Yeah, see you" Lucy turned her back and walked away. She felt uncomfortable leaving Natsu there, but he's the one who decided to be left.

Walking back inside the school was a little less difficult, talking to someone who doesn't ignore her or doesn't bully her.

It felt enlightening on her part.

She walked back to her class smiling and happy, not even bothering to look left and right to see if Flare was there.

For the first time of her life, she felt accepted by common people and not just the teachers.

Lucy walked to go outside of the classroom, after the dismissal bell rang. She hopped happily towards her house.

She sat across her desk to have some leisure. She wrote some stories to ease her mind from the stress. But on the same side, she was thinking about Natsu.

She was glad. Glad to have met him. A delinquent and bad guy at first impression but on the side not, kind and caring.

Lucy rested her head on her desk and eventually fell asleep.

The next day, Lucy had a good taste with the morning. She felt energized and confident of herself.

As she entered the academy, she sighed deeply.

"I'm going to stand up for myself… For what I think is right… For my freedom"

But she still cautiously looked around if ever Flare was there again. She went to her class and sighed in relief.

She did the same things like she did. She listened attentively. After a couple of hours, class was dismissed.

Lucy went out of the room and walked down the hallway.

She knew she told Natsu to look for her in the library but she couldn't help but look for him. He did say, he wasn't going to skip class anymore.

Lucy looked around and walked slowly.

She stopped, that is when Flare blocked her way.

Lucy gulped.

"You little blondie… How dare you do that to me, yesterday" Flare glared at Lucy creepily. As usual, she was with her friends doing the same.

The students looked at them, whispering. They witnessed what Lucy did after Flare had done to her but no one bothered to stop her. Afraid that Flare might do the same thing with what she was doing Lucy presently.

The students continued to watch them, wondering what will happen next.

"You don't have the right to do that to me" Flare said.

I collected all my willpower to talk back. "You don't have the right to do that to me, either. I'm just paying you the favor back"

Flare gritted her teeth. "Hah, seems blondie here has some nerves to talk back"

Lucy just continued to look at her.

"You know what, I'm sick and tired of you always bullying me, Flare. You can't get anything by doing this. So, if I were you, I would just rather go away and try finding worth in yourself" Lucy said.

Flare turned red as her hair did. She was disgusted.

"Why you little-!"

She raised a hand, with fist closed. Upon seeing this, Lucy could no longer dodge it. It was already close to her face.

Pain.

And a black eye.

That's what she expected.

But Lucy heard the students gasp and a wind came by her face. She reopened her eyes and was surprised to see Natsu holding Flare's wrist.

"Urgh! What the-!?" Flare groaned in Natsu's tight grip.

"To be honest, you should do what she just said earlier" Natsu said to her.

"How dare you-! Argh!"

Natsu pushed her arm to the wall.

"I don't care if you're a girl. Anyone who makes fun of my friend is my enemy. So, if I were you, I'd leave Lucy alone, ginger"

Some students laughed at what Natsu called her. She did have a pale complexion and some freckles on her neck.

Lucy tried to suppress her laugh.

"G-ginger?" Flare looked surprise.

"Just so you know, if I ever see you near Lucy again, I'll break your arm" Natsu dropped his grip on Flare's arm and glared at him.

Flare and her friends looked at him with fear.

Natsu pointed his eyes and then pointed to Flare. "I'm watching you" Natsu held Lucy's arm.

"C'mon, let's go" Natsu whispered to Lucy and dragged her away from Flare.

The students laughed. But it was for Flare for the second time.

"Haha, Flare got owned! Flare got owned!" the students cheered for Natsu's speech.

"Urgh!" Flare and her friends ran away in anger.

While on Lucy and Natsu's side, they headed to the library.

"Thank you, Natsu" Lucy smiled at him as they sat across a table in the library.

"It's no problem, Luce, I have your back remember?" Natsu grinned goofily at her. Lucy blushed and chuckled.

"Luce?"

Natsu shrugged. "Just thought, I'd call you that"

"If you weren't there, I'm sure I already have a black eye by now" Lucy chuckled. Natsu grinned.

"Well, like I said, I have your back. So… What are we in for?" Natsu asked.

"Oh, yeah! First, what subject do you excel…"

Lucy asked and the two started to talk again.

The two met by chance and got along well, eventually becoming best friends.

They had each other's back.

And they have been each other's protectors.

And viola! I hope you guys enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! ^^ :)

I know Flare has apologized to Lucy already but this story needs an antagonist. NaLu FTW! *table flips*

Well, currently sitting here, waiting for at least one favorite story to be updated...

shadow out!