Lucy stayed frozen, the piece of paper in her hands already starting to crumple at the sides from her gripping it so tightly. The letter had been folded and reopened many times, the crooks and creases in the paper obviously showing that whoever had written this had hesitated quite a lot when putting it into the envelope; as if he hadn't really wanted to send the letter at all, let alone write it. Words had been crossed out and rewritten, ink marks all over the paper from gripping the pen too tightly and making the letter look even messier than it already was; effectively making it all the more difficult for her to read it properly.

The Celestial Wizard read over the words time and time again, actually hoping that she had misread something due to the messy handwriting and that this was just all a big, cruel joke and wasn't actually happening.

But it was.

Happy and I will be back in a year or so.

He was leaving her. He was actually leaving her for a whole full year! And so soon after the Tartaros fiasco and losing Aquarius, nonetheless! She couldn't believe this, couldn't believe him. Natsu was many tings, dense, gullible, violent, naive, even.

He was many things, but she wouldn't have expected him to just leave like that, leave Fairy Tail like that! Fairy Tail was his life, the guild was like family to him! No, scratch that, they actually were a family. So why would he just up and leave? What was he thinking?

She needed to stop him.

A tear ran down her cheek and she snapped out of her shocked state. She needed to move. Now.

The door burst open, and she rushed out without even thinking of throwing on a coat or shoes as she ran. She didn't have time for those things, she had already wasted too much time by just staring blankly at the letter he had discreetly left in her apartment an indefinite amount of time ago.

Lucy could faintly acknowledge the sound of the group of men calling for her to be careful like they usually did. She acknowledged it, but she didn't hear it. Her mind was racing, multiple thoughts and scenarios flashing in her mind, but one clearly stood out from the others.

She'd be lonely if they left, and as selfish as that may be, she couldn't handle her best friend leaving her so soon after losing one of her spirits. She couldn't handle him leaving at all.

If she was quick enough, then maybe her and Happy could talk him out of this, could convince him that he was being stupid and tell him that he didn't need to leave to get stronger. He could do the exact same here, in Magnolia, with her, with Fairy Tail.

If she had had more time, then she'd have brought Gray and Erza with her, maybe Wendy, too. She was sure that they would've reached him on time then. Lucy faintly wondered if having Erza with her would've been enough to scare the pink-haired fire breather into coming back with them, and if Gray could tempt him into a fight long enough for him to forget all about his idiotic plans of leaving.

But they weren't with her right now. Lucy needed to catch him and change his mind on her own. And fast.

Natsu kept his dark eyes on Happy as he walked, a mild frown marring his face as he watched him. The Exceed obviously wasn't entirely content with what they were doing right now, the lack of energy he was putting into his flight tipping Natsu off on that fact.

He sighed, eyes shifting to his front. He didn't really like the idea of leaving everyone behind like that either, but he needed to do it. To protect them. Natsu could say with all his heart and one hundred percent certainty that he had everyone's best interest in his mind when he had made his decision. He didn't want anything like Tartaros to happen ever again. Never again, in fact.

His mind flashed back to his blonde best friend, and he almost flinched, just knowing that her wrath would be ten times the amount of Erza's when they got back from their year-long training mission.

"Hey, Natsu..." Happy suddenly called, snapping him out of his thoughts about a certain busty blonde. "Are we really making the right choice by doing this?" His voice was soft, almost hesitant, and Natsu decided that he hated it.

"We have to, buddy." He answered solemnly while keeping his voice as even as possible, failing miserably. "It's for the best."

The blue Exceed frowned, moving to fly in front of him and hover in the sky to block his closest friend from moving any further. "But what about Lucy?" He asked, and Natsu stiffened at her name. "We shouldn't have left her with just a letter. She deserves more than that."

Damn it, he knew that she deserved more than that! She deserved the world and he knew that very well and that's what was making this so hard in the first place. He knew that if he had went and stayed to see her and say goodbye, that his goodbye would have been utterly meaningless because he would most likely end up staying after trying (and most definitely failing) in leaving her. She'd make him stay, he knew she would, and he just couldn't afford to allow that to happen.

"Why couldn't she just have come with us?" The cat questioned innocently and Natsu sighed.

"Too dangerous, she would've hated it and I'm not putting her through that, even if she can fight."

"But she-"

"Listen, Happy, if we had gone to say goodbye to her you and I both know she would've either insisted on going with us or she would've started crying. Do you really want to see Luce cry?" He looked up at him, and the blue Exceed faltered in his, uh, flight.

"No..." He admitted, voice sounding sad. "But I want to see her again."

"We will," he promised, deciding not to add after a year to make his feline friend feel a bit better.

They stayed silent after that, continuing to walk in somewhat awkward but comforting silence while thoroughly thinking their upcoming journey through. That was, until Natsu suddenly stopped dead in his tracks with an alarmed and somewhat pained expression on his face.

Happy bumped into him by accident, yelping and rubbing his nose with his paw to ease the pain a bit. "Oww, Natsu! What was that for?!" He complained, sounding both whiny and nasally from holding his nose in pain.

The Dragon Slayer stayed rooted on the spot, before he blinked and grabbed Happy out of the sky. "We need to leave," he whispered urgently, almost frantic. "Now."

Happy frowned and wiggled his body until Natsu let go, pulling away almost instantly as he stared at his friend with worried eyes. "Natsu, what-" He stopped, finally realizing just what had made Natsu act so strangely as he finally heard it. Footsteps, bare footsteps if he had to go by the sound of feet slapping against wet ground, and then-

"Natsu! Happy!"

Both boys stilled, the cat turning slowly to check if he wasn't dreaming and if she really was here, that he hadn't imagined it and that she actually managed to catch up with them as he heard her familiar voice call for them. Natsu, on the other hand, absolutely refused to turn, not wanting this to hurt more than it already did.

Damn it! Why did she have to be so quick on her feet?!

She was standing a couple of feet away from them, entire figure hunched over as she placed her hands on her knees for support, panting heavily to try and catch her breath. Her hair was covering her face, making it almost impossible for the flying feline to see her expression properly. That didn't seem to stop him from heading her way though.

"Lucy!" He cried happily, flying towards her at top speed before landing right in her chest and snuggling contently between her breasts with a bright smile as she caught him and held him close, a relieved sigh escaping her lips and the worries just easing off of her the moment she realized she hadn't been too late. She had made it.

Natsu probably should've stopped him, should've grabbed his tail and dragged him with him as he made a run for it. But he didn't have the mind, the will, nor the heart to do so because this was Lucy and she was actually here and Natsu decided that he had probably been doomed to the darkest pits of hell because God knows he'd go back with her if she ever asked him to and it was so unfair but he just couldn't deny her when she asked for something.

The Fire Dragon Slayer realized that his Celestial Wizard held a little too much power over him, and she didn't even need to be overly violent like her counterpart in Edolas to accomplish that.

Somehow, that just made it all the more terrifying.

"Natsu," she spoke after moments of simply agonizing silence, and something in her tone made him relinquish all his self-control and willpower as he turned around to face her while sporting a deer caught in headlights expression.

She was shivering, teeth chattering and body shaking as she stood there. He could see her pretty plump lips turning a light shade of blue because of the cold even from this distance, and he wondered just what she had been thinking when she had decided to start running around Magnolia looking for them in that little outfit of hers and barefooted in the middle of the night after it had just stopped raining while the season was very clearly heading towards Fall.

Her dark brown eyes were set on him and carrying murderous intent, but mostly filled with hurt, too, and he realized that she probably hadn't been thinking at all when rushing after him.

Natsu decided he didn't like it, she was the less impulsive one in their little duo. It was simply how they worked, and she was breaking routine- and what was he thinking?!

Making big decisions that could affect his future like leaving on a year-long trip with his flying cat was making his head hurt; just look at where his mind was headed!

"Uhm...hey...Luce?" He tried, his greeting sounding more like a nervous question than anything else as he tried his best to avoid looking at her and it occurred to him that he was utterly screwed because he had most likely just pissed off one of the most dangerous women he knew to date. He took a risky glance at her, only to see her already staring at him and he mentally cursed as he quickly looked away.

She'd take him back, she'd take him back, she'd take him back.

He knew she would, but, oddly enough, he found himself not really minding as much as he should and damn it, it was already starting! She wasn't even trying and he was already willing to just give up and do whatever she wanted.

He was turning into an even bigger wimp than Natsu Dragion and he cursed himself for ever laughing at the guy because now he could very clearly understand just why the dude was so much of a whipped puppy- both literally and figuratively in his case. Natsu didn't doubt that Lucy Ashley didn't use her whip just for bad guys.

Crap, he was zoning off again.

Lucy tightened her grip on the blue feline pressed against her chest, pulling him closer and Natsu guessed that it was out of pure instinct since she was still very clearly shivering from the cold. The fire breather had half a mind to just swoop her up and carry her back home so she could slip underneath her warm and comfy blankets and wouldn't end up catching a cold again since the last one she had had been a pretty nasty one to begin with; knowing her, she'd probably blame him for making her run all the way through the cold and he simply wasn't waiting for that. Still, he figured she might just Lucy Kick him all the way to the Celestial Spirit World if he so much as touched her at the moment and if he actually did bring her back then the whole purpose of him leaving would be ruined because he'd end up right back at the start. In her room, stealing her bed, and never even thinking of leaving again.

He seriously wondered why she had so much influence on him, his decisions and his lifestyle. Seriously, it was turning unhealthy; if this kept going a little further he'd be breathing 'Lucy' since he was pretty damn sure he had already passed the stage of dreaming about her a long time ago.

The blonde looked up at him, eyes filled with tears she was clearly refusing to let fall and just seeing that sad and hurt face of hers was enough for him to just say 'fuck it' and come running right back to her. He actually would have, if she hadn't opened her mouth right in that moment, and her words just made his heart break even more. He was sure it had shattered into tiny minuscule pieces by now.

"Why?" She croaked out, voice sounding completely heartbroken and Natsu realized a second too late that the minuscule pieces he now called his 'heart' had turned into dust the moment his sensitive ears took note of just how hurt she was.

Oh, if Gajeel, Laxus and Gray ever caught wind of this they'd torment him 'till he had been dumped into his grave.

Another, more horrifying thought hit him and he nearly stopped breathing.

If Mira ever caught wind of this she would haunt the both of them even beyond their graves.

Natsu heard a sniffle and he snapped out of his somewhat disturbing thoughts. Right, Lucy, damn it, Natsu!

Happy squirmed in her grip, and she loosened her grip just a little so he could move his head to look up at her, tears filling his own wide and sad eyes and Natsu cursed the heavens as he realized just how much of an idiot he had been.

Lucy started taking slow steps towards him, still clutching Happy as if he was her lifeline, and Natsu's now nonexistent heart decided to reappear again as it skipped a beat the moment she was standing right in front of him.

He wrinkled his nose. What was going on with him in these past few hours?!

He'd have to ask Juvia later, since she was the most logical choice if you took note of the fact that most of his guild mates were huge jerks. Lovable jerks, yes, but still jerks.

And for the love of all that was holy, why was he even thinking of asking the water mage for advice if he should've been gone long before he could even think of doing that.

All these random and confusing thoughts were doing bad things for his health, Erza's fists would've been child's play compared to what he was feeling right now. And the worst part was, Lucy hadn't even really done anything other than call his name and ask him a one-syllable question!

It was official, he was going crazy. He already had the cat part down, and because of this, Natsu Dragneel had been turned into Magnolia's resident crazy cat lady.

"Natsu!" Lucy snapped her fingers in front of his face multiple times, her features twisted into a look of annoyance and he almost sighed in relief because this was normal.

"Look, I'm sorry, but-"

"Do you really think that leaving your family behind like this is going to make you stronger?" She questioned, and he stiffened.

Well, until a few minutes ago he had thought it had been an absolute splendid idea. That was, until she had to show up and change his mind by making sense without actually doing something and he was blaming Happy because the overly-affectionate cat had talked some sense into him too and now the two of them were essentially ruining him.

His thoughts were a mess.

A complete and utter mess.

"No..." He admitted finally, almost flinching when he looked at her face and saw that Lucy looked almost ready to slap him.

Knowing her, she wouldn't hesitate to do so.

"Then, will you come back so we can all do this together?"

His confused eyes searched her tearful ones for a few moments before he sighed and decided that he, like Dragion, had been completely and utterly whipped by a certain Heartfilia heiress.

"...Yes."