Chapter 1
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Fairy Tail whatsoever.
That being said, welcome to the first chapter of this story. Enjoy!
Don't trip Lucy. Don't trip. Lucy Heartfilia was doing something very bad. Something that she knew she would get in trouble for. She had snuck out of her bed in the middle of the night. The ten-year-old couldn't help it; she was cold. She wanted to find her mother, in the hope that she would let her sleep in her room since her father was away on a business trip for a week.
Unfortunately, the downside to sneaking around at night was that you had to do it in the dark. In the Heartfilia mansion, that meant climbing down the stairs in the dark. Thankfully, once she got down the stairs, she could see her parent's room up ahead. The light was still on, so that had to mean that her mother was still awake. Lucy peeked into the room and saw that her mother Layla was in fact at her desk. It looked like she was reading some papers.
"Mommy," Lucy whispered. Her mother paused, put the paper down, and turned around. She gave her daughter a warm smile.
"Couldn't sleep, sweetheart?" Layla asked. Lucy stepped into the room and walked over to her mother.
"It's so cold in there," Lucy complained. "I want to sleep in here with you. At least for tonight! You and Daddy's is always so warm and comfy." It was true, Lucy felt at peaceful after just being in the room for a few minutes. Lucy looked up at her mother's face, and that's when she noticed it.
"Mommy, is everything alright? " She asked as she touched her mother's cheek. "Are you sad? Your eyes are red." Gently, Layla took her daughter's hand and kissed it.
"Quite the opposite actually," Layla answered sincerely. "I'm happy. I'm happy to have seen how much you've grown. You're going to be an amazing person Lucy."
"I'm going to be just like you," Lucy declared, and her mother laughed.
"Oh Lucy, I want to walk your own path." Layla then pulled her in for a hug.
"It's all up to you." Lucy frowned, something was wrong. Her mother's voice sounded different. She pulled back and screamed. Her mother's smiling face was replaced with a sunken, sick looking one.
"It's all up to you," She repeated, then she shriveled up into a powder and blew away. Lucy was stunned. Her parent's bedroom had disappeared, and now everything was pitch black.
"It's all up to you."
"It's all up to you."
"It's all up to you." All of these voices kept repeating that phrase to her.
"Stop it," Lucy exclaimed. "Stop!"
"It's all up to you."
"It's all up to you."
"It's all up to you."
"STOP IT!"
Lucy sat up and succeed in banging heads with a pink haired fire dragon slayer who was peering over her.
"Ow," The two wizards exclaimed.
"Jeez Lucy your head is rock hard," Natsu stated while rubbing his forehead. Lucy glared at her friend.
"Hey shut up! Why were you leaning over me while I was sleeping anyway?"
"You were screaming in your sleep Lucy," Her other friend Happy explained. "You woke both of us up. We're lucky we're camping instead of sleeping in an inn like you wanted to or else you would have made a lot of people angry."
Lucy's shoulders slumped, "Sorry guys. It won't happen again."
"Do you want to talk about it?" Natsu asked. "What if you have it again?" Lucy looked at the two of them and smiled. She couldn't help but think about how nice it was to around them again. She missed this, but that didn't mean that she wanted to spill her guts out about the nightmare that she just had.
"I'll be fine," Lucy replied simply and laid back down. She heard them leave her, but then she heard something being dragged. She sat up again and saw that the two of them had set up their sleeping bag directly next to hers.
"What are you guys doing?" She asked.
"Going to sleep," Natsu answered simply.
"Yeah, I can see that," Lucy said. "I'm just wondering why you guys are so close."
"So we can shut you up when you scream again," Happy stated.
"That's it! Come here cat!"
"Natsu! Lucy's going to throw me into the fire," Happy exclaimed.
"We just…..want to make sure that you're okay," Natsu said he laid down with his back towards Lucy. "Right Happy?"
"Uh-huh." The blue exceed snuggled into his pillow. In an instant, the two of them were fast asleep.
Lucy smiled, "Thanks, guys."
The next day, the three of them set off once again on their path to resurrect their guild. Lucy yawned for what seemed like the thousandth time that day. While she didn't have that nightmare again, she still couldn't completely relax.
"It's all up to you." The celestial wizard shivered as she heard those words again in her head. She glanced over Natsu, who was happily eating some of the leftover roasted fish that they had caught for lunch. Happy was sitting on his head, eating a raw fish with an identical expression on his face.
Unbeknownst to Lucy, Natsu had been keeping a close eye on his teammate. He didn't want to make it obvious, have her think that he was being pervy, and get punched in the face. He just remembered how tortured she looked when she had that nightmare. She screamed! Even though she said that she was fine, he could still see that she was still a little off. It wasn't noticeable outright, but he's known Lucy long enough to know when something is bothering her.
It wasn't long before they had made it to Tuly Village.
"Let's stop here for the night," Lucy declared as she looked around at the small town.
"Aye," replied Happy. "What's wrong Natsu?" The dragon slayer seemed fixed on the large clock tower sitting in the middle of town. Lucy turned to look at it as well.
Why does it look so weird? She thought.
"Ah, that's the clock tower you broke once huh?"
That explains it.
"Yeah, it's great that they got it fixed."
"It makes a really weird boundary line now though."
"Yeah."
Lucy narrowed her eyes, His face...don't me….
"Maybe I should destroy it again."
"Oh no you don't," Lucy exclaimed, hitting him on the back of the head. "We don't need to give the people a reason to chase us out of town!"
"There's not enough action here," Natsu exclaimed. "How the hell did those people win the Grand Magic Games? It's a joke! So much for crushing Gray and challenging Erza and Laxus when we're back together! Argh! Wait….Lucy, you're a wizard."
Lucy rolled her eyes, "Glad you remembered."
"Fight me!"
"No…..is what I'd like to say to you, but I've been doing a little training myself," She informed him.
"Really?"
"I don't think I'd be able to beat you going all out, but I'd be down to have a sparring match," She said. "Now when-"
"Wait a minute," Natsu interjected. Lucy saw that he was looking off somewhere.
"What?"
Suddenly, he turned and blew fire right between her legs.
Eek! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!
"What was that all about?"
Natsu had a smug look on his face, "Nothing, don't worry about."
"Don't worry about it? You could've burnt me!"
"But I didn't," Natsu argued. "I can control my magic you know."
"Oh really? Let's ask that clock tower."
"Silly Lucy, that clocktower can't speak. It's not like Horologium."
"It was a figure of speech Happy!"
"Hey, guys why don't we stay here?" Natsu pointed in the direction of the Kotoko Inn. Before they even answered he already started making his way there. Lucy and Happy followed him.
"Natsu, what about our match? I've become strong too!"
"Sorry Lucy, not interested," Natsu answered nonchalantly. Though, for a moment he wondered if he could even spar with her without worrying about hurting her. That would be the last thing he'd want to do, even if it were an accident. He knew she was strong. He knew she could take it. He was just wondering if he could take it… Natsu shook his head; there was no reason to worry about that now.