Endless Love
Author's Note: After being on hiatus for so long I wanted to come back with a bang. This story will be based hugely on the 2014 movie by the same name starring Alex Pettyfer and Gabriella Wilde so please make sure to check that out in addition to reading this fic. This will be a short fic with only 10 chapters, but the chapters themselves will be longer than my usual, so I hope that they will live up to your expectations nonetheless!
There was a girl. A beautiful girl surrounded by people yet utterly alone. Her sister Michelle died freshman year. She spent all of her time secluded with her family or in the comfort of books. I watched her for all of high school waiting for that perfect moment to talk to her, but that moment never came. I watched as people gradually forgot about her, and she seemed content to disappear- but not to me. And although she didn't know it, I saw the possibility of us.
Natsu watched her now, at their high school graduation as she stood alone as all the people around her congratulated one another, conveniently ignoring her. A sculpted arm came around his shoulder and broke his gaze from the girl he had been staring at.
"You know I realize you're not very good at science, but allow me to fill you in on this hypothesis I have: You actually have to speak to a girl in order to get her to go out with you." Gray Fullbuster, his sarcastic stripper best friend, teased.
"Wow Gray, I didn't realize how much getting a diploma would change you," Natsu started as he threw the dark haired boy's arm off his shoulder. "You're an even bigger dick than before."
"Oh come on flame breath, there's no need to be mean to me because you're too scared to talk to the girl of your dreams." Gray poked fun at Natsu.
"As if ice princess. The only girls who like you are the sadistic psychopaths who think it's cute that you take off your clothes randomly, like now for instance." Natsu threw back, pointing at his friend's newly naked torso.
"What?!" Gray cried as he looked down at himself, finally noticing he had ripped his shirt off.
"Every goddamn time." he mumbled to himself as he picked his shirt off the ground and put it back on.
"Besides, I wasn't scared of talking to her. I was just scared of asking her out. That's a perfectly reasonable thing to be scared of." Natsu replied, crossing his arms.
"Yeah, I guess so. Especially considering she would never have agreed to go out with you." Gray agreed.
"Why the hell do you say that?" Natsu barked angrily back. Gray merely rolled his eyes at Natsu's niavety (and not for the first time).
"Seriously? First of all, she never went out with anyone with high school, so I doubt she would have agreed to go out with you. And second, she's completely out of your league." Gray informed his friend as if it was plain knowledge.
"What do you mean she's out of my league!?" Natsu yelled in frustration.
"I mean," Gray began, purposely stressing his words to further irritate Natsu. "Just look at her. She's easily one of the hottest girls at school, add on the fact her dad's one of the richest guys in town, and take into consideration just how nice she is? Yeah dude. I think she's just a little bit out of your league."
"WHY DON'T YOU SAY THAT TO MY FACE YOU ICE SCULPTURE!?" Natsu screamed, smashing his face right up against the dark haired stripper.
"DO YOU WANNA GO MAGMA BRAINS?" Gray retaliated, pushing against Natsu. The two squared off angrily, going into deathmatch mode, completely ignoring the throngs of people staring and laughing at them. Despite the fact they looked like they were about to kill each other, it was a well known fact that the two boys were best friends, even to the quiet blonde across the way who had never been apart of their world, just an observer of it.
"Oh look it's Erza!" Natsu yelped in surprise, pulling away from the other boy quickly.
"Shit, I gotta go! She's gonna kill me for eating her strawberry shortcake!" Gray screamed as he ran for the hills, unaware he'd just been tricked.
Now free of distraction Natsu looked back at the girl in question. There was a sort of truth to his friends words. Lucy Heartfilia was goddess like in her beauty. She was elegantly tall, with a statuesque and curvaceous shape. Her face was like a painting with sweeping lines and bright colors from the deep brown filling her eyes to the pink of her full lips. Even in the hideous pastel blue of the graduation robe, she looked like something from a dream. Natsu watched her in realization that his friend's words were true. Lucy Heartfilia was in fact out of his league, but that didn't stop the hope that crept into his chest when he saw her turn her head and catch his eye. She gave him a small hesitant smile before she looked down again to hide in her bubble. He took a step in her direction, finally set on approaching her, but she had already walked away.
On the other side of the courtyard, Lucy Heartfillia walked over to the remembrance plaque of her older sister Michelle where her brother Gajeel was wiping silly string from its metallic surface. He looked at Lucy as she approached.
"I know it's stupid bunny girl, but I can't stand to see her memory disrespected like this." he said, offering up a reason for his actions. Lucy smiled at the old nickname.
"No it's not." Lucy responded. She too began sweeping the vibrant strands from the memorial.
"You do realize I'm going to have to beat the snot out of whoever did that right?" Gajeel injected as they cleaned.
"Yeah sure you will. Now come on," she called to her brother once the job was finished. "Dad wants to take a picture of us as a happy family." Her brother laughed at that.
"Well then that prick better know how to use some good photoshop cause there is no way in hell I'm smiling for him." Gajeel retorted with a snort. The siblings made their way towards their awaiting parents, but stopped when someone called Lucy.
"Hey Lucy!" the full bodied brunette girl named Cana yelled and Lucy looked over at her, with bright eyes and a hopeful smile.
"Yeah Cana?" Lucy asked as she ran up the stairs to her classmate. Gajeel smiled when he saw how happy Lucy looked at being included by her classmates.
"Will you come take a picture?" the girl asked.
"Sure!" Lucy joyfully squealed as she hopped up the stairs to stand next to Cana.
"Take two will ya?" Cana asked, handing Lucy the camera. Lucy's face dropped immediately when she realized she was being asked to take the picture, not be in it.
She stood in front of the happy group of totally conspicuously drunk friends and took the pictures for them. Congrats, a few of them said, but otherwise they just moved on from the sad blonde girl. She looked at her brother and saw the knowing look on his face. Unlike everyone else, Gajeel saw just how much Lucy's self imposed loneliness hurt her.
"Sit down bunny girl." he said as he sat on the stone steps and patted the space next to him.
"Lucy, you can't keep doing this to yourself. Promise me that when you get to college you'll go out there and give the world hell. Show them just how fun and awesome we Heartfilia's are. Ya understand?" Gajeel asked. Lucy nodded her head with shame. He was right, of course.
"Okay, now we have to go before the old man tries to kill us and I have to kill him" Gajeel said to Lucy. They both hopped up and ran over to their awaiting parents.
Nearby, Natsu stood talking to his father, Igneel, and a recently returned Gray.
"I'm really proud of you, Natsu." Igneel said as he handed his son a wad of cash.
"Thanks Dad. That means a lot to me." Natsu replied, giving his father a hug. The money didn't really matter, but the fact that his Father had given it to him meant more than anything. In the Dragneel household, money was always something they could use more of so the fact that Igneel would give him so much, meant the world.
"Hey maybe you should use some of that money to buy a neon sign. Maybe then you'll finally get her attention." Gray interceded, elbowing Natsu teasingly.
"Her?" Igneel asked, one brow raised. "Who's her?"
"Just Lucy Heartfilia, the girl your son's been crushing on for the past four years." Gray informed Igneel, much to Natsu's embarrassment.
"Ohhhhhhhhhhh...Which one is she?" Igneel asked, scanning the crowd. Gray pointed to the beautiful blonde with a smirk. Revenge was sweet.
"Lucy!" Igneel yelled at the top of his lungs. "Hey Lucy! I want you to meet my son! He may not be smart, but he has his Dad's good looks!"
"Shut up old man!" Natsu yelled, clamping his hand over his father's mouth, but to no avail. Igneel just kept yelling for the quiet blonde girl's attention so his son tackled him to the ground.
Lucy looked over at the loud rambunctious family and smiled at them with envy as her father lead her away. They didn't even notice her gaze as father and son wrestled playfully while the dark haired friend laughed at them. Oh how she had always wished to be a part of their little family and now that high school was over she would never have the chance. It seemed that she was destined to reside in her loneliness, forever envious of the people around her.
Two Hours Later
Natsu stood with Gray under the valet stand at the Inn, the local country club where they both worked, as they waited for a car to check in.
"Hey are you going to Lisanna's party tonight?" Gray asked.
"Hell yeah I am!" Natsu answered enthusiastically. "Just as long as Lisanna isn't there."
"Oh come on Natsu, you can't just ignore her forever. You have to tell her eventually that you're not interested." Gray retorted.
"That may be true, but that doesn't mean I can't try. I just don't want to hurt her." Natsu responded, then elbowed his friend when he noticed the black Mercedes pull up.
"Admirers don't just go away Natsu. They're not like that cold sore you had all through eighth grade." Gray teased as he opened the driver door, cutting off their banter and forcing them into "professional mode".
Natsu would make sure to get him back for that little comment later.
"Welcome to the Inn." Natsu said as he held open the door for the aged blonde beauty in the passenger seat. He opened the door behind her and watched as the girl of his dreams came out of it. It all seemed to happen in slow motion as he watched her look up at him and the yearbook fell out of her hand.
They both reached down and grabbed the book at the same time. They looked up at one another. Her anxious brown pools meeting his confident emerald ones.
"You're Lucy Heartfillia." he said matter of factly, his mouth dry, then mentally rebuked himself for saying something so idiotic.
"We went to school together." he continued, trying not to put his foot in his mouth again.
"Yeah, you're Natsu Dragneel, right?" she asked, even though she already knew. She had heard stories about the reckless pink haired boy for all of high school. Often she imagined what it would be like to meet and actually talk to him. Today she had her wish and it was every bit as glorious as she imagined. He nodded and gave her a charming toothy smirk.
"Nice to finally meet you." he said, never breaking away from her eyes as they both stood up.
"You too." she murmured. She took the book in her hand and looked down at the empty daunting black book.
"Lucy." her father called impatiently.
"I should go. It was nice meeting you Natsu." Lucy said before turning away to follow after her father.
Then she stopped. If she turned away from another person trying to reach out to her, would she ever stop? Loneliness, especially her special self imposed kind, was a hard habit to break and if she ever wanted to stop, she had to start now. The walls she had built up had done their job keeping her safe from the rest of the world, but now she was beginning to realize that what she wanted most was not to just see the world, but to be apart of it. Lucy turned back around and ran to Natsu.
"Will you sign this?" she asked gingerly, holding the book out towards him. He smiled yet again and took the book from her. He held it up at an angle so she couldn't see it and flipped to a specific page. With a quick scribble and a smile, he handed her back the yearbook and watched as she floated up the steps, disappearing into the building he had never set foot in. She didn't know it, but on the inside he was celebrating. In fact, when he was sure she was inside, he did a little dance.
Inside the Inn's dining room, the Heartfilia family sat in comfortable silence. Jude Heartfilia was perusing the menu while his beautiful wife Layla sat dutifully by his side scribbling notes into a small black notebook. Gajeel was occupied texting his girlfriend Levy, but Lucy Heartfilia was off in her own world. In her hands, open to the page with the pink haired boy leaning up against an old car, she held her yearbook.
While her father told the waiter their orders, which he of course picked out as usual, Lucy read the inscription Natsu had written in the yearbook: "Nice to finally meet you after four years. Let's not take another 4 years to talk. Hope to see more of you this summer. Signed, the Salamander." She had laughed a little at his nickname, knowing she would have to take him up on that offer, if she wasn't too nervous of course. Thankfully he'd written his number down so if she couldn't bring herself to speak to him in person, she could always just text him.
"Okay?" her father asked, interrupting her thoughts and prompting her to put down the yearbook.
"Yeah sure." she answered, not that she really cared. In her mind she was writing a story about the world just outside the window, in which she was sharing a vibrant summer romance with the pink haired boy who ruled her thoughts, not stuck inside the country club's dining room listening to her father and brother bicker endlessly.
"So we've been going back and forth about what to get you for your graduation present." her father began, pulling her out of her fantasy world.
"I was thinking maybe we could shopping and get you some new clothes for when you go to college, but your father wanted to get you a new car." her mother said shaking her head at Jude.
"So since we couldn't decide, we figured it might be easier if you just tell us what you want." her father suggested.
"Oh no I don't need anything." Lucy insisted, but her parents would have none of it.
"Lucy you should just pick something or else Dad will. And we all know how well he knows what his children want." Gajeel informed her, much to her father's dismay. Gajeel's statement was obviously a backhanded reference to the fight he had with Jude about college. Gajeel hadn't wanted to go to college, preferring instead to try his hand in the music industry. Jude however would hear none of it and when Jude Heartfillia made up his mind about something, it was rarely changed. He had laughed in his son's face when Gajeel told him his plans.
The fight had ended with Gajeel caving to his father's demands, but also going against him by choosing to go undeclared at Fairy Tail University. The whole issue had driven an even larger wedge between father and son, leading to the state of the relationship at it's current time. The animosity between them was always bubbling under the surface, causing tensions, but they always tried to keep it civil when it came to Lucy.
What did she want, Lucy asked herself. She had money and pretty much anything else she could ask for, she was extraordinarily blessed in that regard, except for the most important thing that money couldn't buy. For all of high school she had sealed herself off from her classmates, hoping that by focusing on her school work and not the people around her, losing Michelle wouldn't hurt so bad. Maybe by closing herself off from other people, she wouldn't have to be afraid of getting hurt by the inevitable loss of them. It had been a decent plan, except she forgot to take into account the fact that once you cut yourself off from the world it was hard to jump back into it. She had missed out on the high school experience, but that didn't mean that she couldn't have it for one night.
She looked out the window and saw the pink haired boy and his friend as they worked, laughing, together. He looked up when he felt her gaze and gave her a cheerful smirk, which she then returned shyly.
"Actually there is this one thing." she said, turning back to face her father.
"Anything." her father responded, smiling, in hopes he had drawn his precious daughter out of her own head.
"A party." she asked hopefully, curling into herself. She was always prepared for the worst outcome of any situation. Preparedness is the key to survival, at least that's what Michelle used to say anyway.
"A party?" Jude repeated unsure. The word seemed to leave an unpleasant feel in his mouth.
"I think that's a great idea. We haven't celebrated anything in a long time and I for one miss having a nice time together." Layla added.
"Yeah I'm always up for a good party, especially if it's for my little sister's high school graduation." Gajeel agreed, ruffling Lucy's pretty hair, much to her displeasure, but she was in too good a mood to be bothered by it.
"A party." Jude repeated a second time, turning the idea over in his head."Yeah okay, a party sounds fun." And with his agreement, their conversation was ended and dinner passed in a pleasant haze for Lucy, hopes for the night swimming in her head.
Once dinner with her family was over and all the Heartfilia's went their separate ways, Lucy found herself back out front. If she was going to have a party for their whole graduating class, she should probably start by inviting the two most popular guys who just so happened to be the valets. When Natsu saw Lucy come outside, he went over to her immediately.
"Hi, did you want me to go get your car? " he asked, sincerely hoping that wasn't the reason she had come outside.
"Oh no. I actually wanted to invite you and Gray to this graduation party I'm having tonight. I'm inviting the whole class." she said. Natsu was incredibly taken back by her statement. Could this possibly be the same meek girl who had spent all of high school avoiding her classmates?
"Is something wrong?" Lucy asked seeing the strange look on Natsu's face.
"You'll have to excuse Natsu. That's his thinking face and as you can tell, he doesn't use it a lot." Gray said and hopped into their conversation.
"Shut up snowball." Natsu fired back immediately, cheeks aflame elbow digging in Gray's side.
"Anyway Lucy I don't know about him, but I would love to come to your party." Gray flirted. Natsu elbowed him again.
"I'll be there Lucy, don't you worry." Natsu answered, smirking, interrupted by the sound of a honking horn requesting his presence.
"Give me a sec." he said to Lucy before he and Gray went back to their jobs. Lucy blushed at the Natsu opened the door of the cherry red Maserati for the barbie doll who sat in the passenger seat while Gray opened the driver's door.
"Welcome to the Inn -" Gray began, but the driver cut him off immediately.
"Don't fuck up the paint job." the man in the suit instructed as he threw the keys at Gray, who let them fall to the floor.
"Oh no way is that happening." Gray said to himself before he went after the man.
"Hey Dude. I only take them if you hand them to me, so why don't you try that again." Gray insisted angrily, tossing the keys back at him.
"You should probably just get used to picking stuff up off the floor." the man laughed in his face as he dropped the keys on the floor again, inciting Gray's rage.
"Oh that is it!" Gray yelled, pulling up his sleeves, but Natsu stopped him.
"Don't do this. He isn't worth it." Natsu told his friend, hand on his chest, yet the man continued to antagonize them further.
"Well considering I'm heir to a billion dollar corporation, I'd say that statement is actually true for you guys." Gray pushed against Natsu even more ready for a fight, but he wouldn't budge. Natsu knew that if Gray got his hands on that guy, it wouldn't be a fun time for anyone.
"You boys best earn your three minutes in my car. They're probably the only ones you'll ever have." the man in the suit said, tossing his head back in victory.
"That was extremely rude." Lucy said as the man passed by her with his arm candy, but he just laughed at her attempt to rebuke him.
"Oh don't worry Blondie. They're just the help. They get paid to work, not to have feelings." With that, Lucy was absolutely furious and she was about ready to throw a punch herself.
"You are a pig." she spat at him, but this time he just ignored her with a smile on his face. After all, he had won. There was nothing they could do. They were minimum wage monkeys who would be easily replaced if he gave the word and Lucy was just a nameless nonessential. The three of them just stood standing, watching him walk away.
"I hate people like that." she sneered after him.
"Yeah me too." Gray agreed as he turned away, shoulders slumped in defeat, from Natsu.
"Come on Natsu, let's go park that dick's car." Gray said halfheartedly, but his friend refused to share his attitude. Out of the three teenagers, the pink haired boy was the only one who was smiling.
"What's with that look?" Lucy asked in regards to the mischievous smirk on Natsu's face.
"I have an idea."
As it turns out, Natsu's grand idea was to take the car for a little "test drive" as payback for the man's unnecessarily rude and cruel behaviour. With the radio blasting and the air blowing on the their faces, the three teens relished in the feeling of freedom they felt. Gray stood up in the back seat, yelling out his frustrations at the top of his lungs. In the driver's seat Natsu sang along to the radio and with one hand on the steering wheel, he looked at the girl next to him.
While she had always been beautiful to Natsu, there was something absolutely magical about seeing her in that passenger seat. The way she looked at that moment: blonde hair whipping in the wind, cheeks flushed with excitement, and a carefree smile freed upon her face, was the most enchanting thing Natsu had ever seen. Before, she had been beautiful the way an exotic caged bird was beautiful. Even in captivity it's beauty could be appreciated, but only when it was free could the bird's beauty actually be experienced and felt. That was the difference between Lucy a few minutes ago and Lucy now. Needless to say Natsu was completely captivated.
Then she looked at him and it felt like something out of a dream. Her earthy eyes looked at him and he felt moved in a way he never had before. She smiled and his whole world clicked into place around the pink curve. If he hadn't been strapped in going 80 miles an hour he would have sworn it felt like flying.
They went around a turn, causing Lucy's dress to fly up, breaking the moment. His eyes flew immediately to the movement, where her smooth skin was revealed, and the Lucy from that moment disappeared. Her smile fell and her eyes clouded over with fear and anxiety as she pulled the skirt back down. Apologetically she looked at him, but he only smiled in response as if to say it's okay if you're not ready to be that person yet, to be that free yet. After all it takes time to adjust to freedom.
The three of them went flying down the road until they pulled back into the Inn parking lot to see the chaos that waited for them there.
A crowd had formed to watch the circus that was to follow once the three teens pulled into the parking lot.
"You guys stole my car!" the man from earlier yelled, slamming his hands on the hood in outrage. The three all looked at each other as they got out of the car. They were, for lack of a better term, in deep shit.
"What the hell is going on?" the manager hissed at the two boys as security held back the owner of the car.
"I want their jobs!" the man yelled again.
"Look you were being a jerk, we were trying to teach you a lesson." Natsu said through gritted teeth.
"Yeah, a lesson." Gray repeated, failing to hide a laugh.
"You think this is funny?!" the man screamed angrily at Gray. Natsu laughed at his friend's taunt, but the man turned on Natsu.
"Oh and I suppose this was your idea? What were you trying to impress your hot girlfriend?" he taunted. Lucy went red and Natsu's face went dark.
"You should watch what you say." Natsu said, his voice cold with warning.
"Please, you aren't enough for a girl like that. You're just the bad boy phase. One day she's going to wake up and realize that she needs a guy like me, and trust me when I say I'll be waiting." he said, knowing he had touched a sensitive topic. Those same things that he had said were the exact same things that had always run through Natsu's own mind every time he thought about approaching Lucy. Hell they were almost the same things that Gray had been saying to him just earlier that day. A girl like that deserved the world and all of it's glorious possibilities. That was something Natsu would never be able to give her.
However, while he had successfully hurt Natsu, the man didn't know that he had just poked a sleeping bear. The minute the man smirked with victory, Natsu swung and punched him square in the face.
"That's it! I'm suing!" he screamed, holding his broken nose, blood gushing through his thick sausage fingers.
"Get out of here, Natsu!" the manager yelled as he brought the man inside, but Natsu was frozen. He was focused solely on the look on Lucy's face as her father led her away from the ruckus. She didn't look scared or angry, merely sorry for him. She mouthed something to him, but Natsu couldn't understand it, not that it mattered. The fact she wasn't afraid of him was the most important thing to him.
As Gray pulled him away from the swarm outside of the country club, he smiled just a little to himself because of her. He just hoped he would be able to go to her graduation party later.
Once Gray dropped him off at home, Natsu went immediately to see his father in his shop. Igneel was working under the hood of an old 97' Chevrolet when he heard his son come in. He sighed.
"What happened this time Natsu?" he asked without turning to look at his son.
"I'm sorry Dad. I didn't mean for anything to happen." Natsu apologized profusely. Igneel let out a deep sigh and hung his head back. He turned to look at his son.
"You never do Natsu." Igneel said, resigned."But I guess these things can't be helped." he added, allowing Natsu let out the breath he had been holding in relief.
"So let me guess, you were protecting Gray?" Igneel asked.
"Yeah… and someone else." Natsu answered, his cheeks going red.
"OHHHHHH….." his father exaggerated, giving him a cheeky grin.
"Was it Lucy?" Igneel teased. He knew he was right when his son refused to look at him.
"Wow, my son likes a girl… I never thought I'd live to see the day." Igneel said, mostly to himself, but that didn't keep Natsu from hearing it. He tackled his father to the ground screaming "FIGHT ME YOU OLD MAN!"
At the Heartfilia residence, the house was buzzing with activity as the various personnel decorated it and guests began to show up. Lucy Heartfilia was sitting in her room at her vanity, waiting for the sound of the doorbell to announce the arrival of the one person she was waiting for. Even though it was just supposed to be a graduation party, Lucy had donned a knee length formal red dress and curled her hair. She looked good and maybe it would be enough to get the attention of the guy she'd had a crush on for years, Natsu Dragneel. Now here she was waiting for him to come to her party. Sometimes waiting did pay off.
Especially in this case, since the doorbell had just rung.
Lucy raced down the stairs, nearly tripping over her own feet, past Gajeel.
"Don't trip while you're hopping bunny girl or I'll have to think of a new nickname for you!" her brother teased, but she was already flying down the elaborate staircase.
She swung the door open, smile bright on her lovely face, to see her father's work friends. Her face fell a little, but she retained a small polite smile.
"Hello." she greeted them.
"Congratulations Lucy." Jude's friends repeated as they shuffled into the house one by one.
"Where's your dad?" her mother Layla asked once the house began to fill.
"Upstairs." she answered. "I'll go get him."
Lucy walked back upstairs to find her father, but in all reality she knew where he was. The first door to the left, was slightly open. Michelle's room was a ghost town that everybody in the family avoided, except for Jude. He lay on the orange comforter covering the bed, curled up asleep. Faint tear trails were visible on his face.
"Dad?" Lucy whispered as she tip toed over to her father. Gently, she shook him awake.
"What?" Jude called groggily as he looked around.
"People are here Dad." Lucy informed him. She knew that if he knew there were people downstairs, he would snap out of his mood. He always did.
"Oh okay." he replied, wiping his face free of invisible debris.
"Thanks Lucy." he said before he walked downstairs, leaving Lucy alone in the room.
If it was up to Lucy, she would never go back into that room, but her father didn't feel that same. At least once a day, Jude Heartfilia could be found in that room.
Michelle was gone and Lucy missed her with all of her heart, but it felt wrong to live in the memory of someone rather than live for them. It was one of the concessions that the Heartfilia family had to make in the wake of the tragedy in order to survive.
Tonight's party would be the first for the Heartfilia's in three years.
Lucy looked around the room, realizing how little it had been changed, until her eyes fell onto the picture frame on the dresser.
The picture had been taken on Michelle's eighteenth birthday when the whole family had gone to the beach at Michelle's request. It had only been two months before when Michelle got the fatal diagnosis. Acute myeloid leukemia was rare in people so young and theoretically it should have been relatively easy to fight in Michelle's case, but there were extenuating circumstances.
Before she was diagnosed, Jude Heartfilia, as a certified M.D., took care of her and all of her symptoms. To him, it was just a simple virus. Cancer was the furthest thing from his mind and it wasn't until Michelle woke up one morning with a full body rash that he took her to the hospital.
That day they were told Michelle, a healthy and wonderful seventeen year old girl, had stage four terminal cancer and would not live to see eighteen.
After that, the Heartfilia's lives revolved around Michelle. Everyone took turns taking care of her, though Jude did most of that work, and when the end came, the only thing Michelle wanted was to go to the beach one last time.
She lived to see eighteen, but she died four months later.
That picture is that last picture of the Heartfilia family as a whole. In it, all five members of the family stood in front of the waves, illuminated by the colors of the fading sun, matching smiles on their faces.
The memories came surging back into Lucy's mind as she looked, nostalgically, at the photo. Pain gripped at her heart. Tears gathered in her eyes, but Lucy refused to let them run down her face.
Instead she marched downstairs, like the good puppet daughter she felt like, and mingled mindlessly with people she knew, but considered strangers.
It wasn't until a half hour later, when Gajeel told her that there was "a stupid pink haired idiot" waiting at the door for her, that Lucy felt like herself again (she also couldn't wait to hear the story behind that insult later). She found herself hurrying to the front door only to find he wasn't there. She turned around, disappointed only to see him leaning up against a column looking at a tribal spear displayed on the wall.
"Oh hey Lucy!" he called once he saw her, a smile displayed prominently on his face. His enthusiasm was absolutely contagious and she felt herself immediately enlightened by it. A smile spread across her face and she felt her cheeks redden when she looked more closely at him.
The Natsu she could remember from high school had always worn t-shirts and jeans, but the boy in front of her was undeniably handsome in a tailored plain black tuxedo. He even had his signature white dragon scale scarf around his neck. He was heart stoppingly handsome and it was causing Lucy to lose her bearings.
"Hi Natsu. Thanks for coming." she said meekly, crossing her arms behind her back and her eyes fell down, naturally, when he gave her a once over.
"You look really pretty Luce." he replied to her, looking away with red cheeks of his own.
"Oh thanks. You look really nice too." she thanked him, cheeks growing even more red.
"So.. uh where is everyone else? I thought you were inviting everybody in our class?" Natsu asked, looking around at the other people in the Heartfilia house. Lucy's face dropped.
Yeah she had invited the whole class, but she was so wrapped up in Natsu that she hadn't even really realized that he was the first person in her class to show up. The fact that he was the one who pointed it out to her was absolutely mortifying. If she wasn't red already, she knew she would have turned into a tomato.
When Natsu saw her reaction, he knew that he had made a mistake. He shouldn't have said anything about the missing teenagers.
"I don't really know." she began, curling into herself. "I invited them all, but I guess they all went to that other party." Her eyes dropped to the floor with relative shame.
The second Lucy said that, Natsu knew exactly where they had all gone. The only other party of the night was being thrown by the one person Natsu did not want to see.
Lisanna Strauss had been Natsu's childhood best friend years ago before she had left to go to an exclusive boarding school on a scholarship. Back then, they had a sort of puppy dog romance with one another. She had been his first crush and vice versa, but when she left, Natsu's feelings went with her. She came back years later, expecting things to go back to the way things had been, but Natsu had moved on and the best friend position had been taken over by Gray. All she was to him was a first love and an old friend.
To her however, he was still the object of her affections and made that fact clear most of the times when they were together.
However, Natsu still refused to hurt her and though he hadn't done anything yet, he still felt bad for what he was about to do.
Lucy looked at Natsu, her head tilted slightly to the side in confusion.
"What's going on Natsu? Why do you have that look on your face?" Lucy asked confused. Her face drained of color.
"Please tell me you don't have another idea." Lucy begged.
He smiled back at her in response.
"Just watch and see." he said, then he pulled his phone out. He dialed a number quickly and put the phone to his ear.
"Erza," he began, smirking at Lucy. "I need a favor."
As it turns out, Natsu's favor involved Erza invoking her reputation as the Titania and scaring the partygoers at Lisanna's house over to Lucy's, which to Lucy's surprise actually worked. Not even a full twenty minutes later, the class of 2016 came through Lucy's front door, led by the famous red head, Erza Scarlet. She came barreling through Lucy's door at lightning speed, followed by an awed Gray, until she saw Natsu and his new blonde friend.
"You must be Lucy," Erza greeted the blonde. "I am Erza Scarlet. It's nice to meet you."
"It's nice to meet you too." Lucy replied politely, swallowing loudly.
"I have a feeling that we will be great friends Lucy, but you must excuse me for a moment." Erza told her before turning on Natsu.
"I have successfully fulfilled the requirements of your favor. I expect my reward to be most great." Erza told him, voice menacing, and where it made Lucy cringe, Natsu just laughed.
"Don't worry Erza. I'll buy you your strawberry shortcake tomorrow." He assured her, a grin bright on his face.
"Excellent. Now if you will please excuse me, I must go see a man about a horse." She said before she stormed away.
"Horse?" Lucy said aloud, confused by Erza's statement.
"DUDE!" A voice rang aloud, breaking Lucy's train of thought. She turned to face the source of the voice, who turned out to be no other than Natsu's best friend Gray.
"Natsu that was seriously the best thing I have ever seen! I don't want to know how you did it, but watching Erza literally single handedly empty out the party was HILARIOUS." Gray went on, fist bumping Natsu, before he noticed Lucy.
"Oh hey Lucy! Thanks for having us over, your house is freaking awesome!" he said, laughing as he pulled the blonde in for a hug, staring straight at Natsu as he did. Natsu stared daggers at him as he did. Gray leaned in towards her and sniffed her exaggeratedly, causing Natsu to prep for a joke swing as they parted.
"Do I need to take my shoes off?" he asked laughing, pointing down at his dirty boots. She laughed good naturedly at his joke.
"No you're fine!" she laughed back at him, eyes dazzling. At that moment, Natsu knew he had to watch out for this girl, this beautiful girl, because if she looked at him like that he would fall harder than he ever had before.
"Hey Natsu can I talk to you for a second?" Gray asked pulling his friend away from the blonde as she welcomed her classmates into her home, and her life, for the first time.
"Sure." Natsu said, looking back at her reassuringly.
"So um, I know you didn't want to see her tonight, but I wanted to give you a little heads up. Lisanna's here." Gray said quietly, hoping to avoid his best friends fury, but to no avail.
"Are you kidding me GRAY?!" Natsu screamed quietly, looking over his shoulder to the doorway where Lisanna stood, looking at him.
"I hate you." Natsu said simply, shaking his friend away from him, turning to Lisanna. She made her way towards him, a smile on her face. As much as Natsu didn't want her around at the moment, it wasn't because she was a bad person. In fact Lisanna had been one of his best friends in an earlier time, but now she had an unmistakable crush on him, and it made everything awkward especially since he was now talking to Lucy.
"Hi Natsu." Lisanna greeted him sweetly, trying to hug him. He stepped back from her as she reached for him.
"What's wrong Natsu?" she asked, tears balancing on the waterlines of her blue eyes.
"Nothing's wrong Lisanna, honestly. It's just…" Natsu began, but he wasn't sure how to continue.
"Look Lisanna, I want you to know that you're one of my best friends and I would never in a million years hurt you, but you deserve to know that I don't feel the same way about you as you do about me." he said gently, trying to avoid hurting her as much as possible. However, there were already tears falling down the white haired girl's face.
"Natsu I just want you to be happy and I think you can be happy with me." she whimpered in response.
"Maybe Lisanna, but there's someone else." Natsu replied to her firmly.
"Is it the girl you ruined my party for? This Lucy Heartfilia girl?" she asked, tears still streaming out of her eyes. Natsu merely nodded.
"I can understand that, Natsu. You're a great guy." she cried as she wiped tears from her big baby blues. "But I'll be here for you no matter what."
"Thanks Lisanna." Natsu said, unsure whether to hug her or just walk away. Neither option felt right, considering how close they used to be, but he didn't know what to do. True to what his friends believed he didn't have a lot of experience with girls.
"Look I'll see you later okay Natsu?" she said, sniffling back tears, already turning away from him.
"Yeah sure Lisanna." he replied, mostly talking to her back as she walked away. He then turned and looked back at Lucy. She was a natural born hostess, he thought as he watched her greet the sting of teenagers entering her house. If she'd been more social in high school, she would have been their queen.
She must have felt his stare because in that second she turned and looked at him. In that crowded hallway surrounded by strangers, they shared a wordless moment of thanks.
Elsewhere in the house, Jude Heartfilia was not having as nice a time as his lovely daughter. He watched as his elegant and worldly affair turned into a trashy high school kegger.
"Layla where the hell did all these kids come from?" he demanded, pulling his wife away from her conversation.
"Oh Jude isn't it wonderful? Natsu arranged the whole thing for Lucy! He's such a sweet boy." Layla gushed to her husband.
"Natsu? Whose Natsu? Lucy doesn't know any Natsu?" Jude continued to interrogate his wife.
"Why of course she does Jude! He's right over there!" Layla said smiling, pointing over to the entryway where the boy leaned up against the wall watching Lucy.
"Oh my god! Layla that's the kid who punched Leonard Beauchamp in the face!" Jude whispered to his wife, but she merely laughed him off.
"Oh Jude who cares! He's made Lucy happy! That's all that matters!" she continued, giggling. At that moment, standing there listening to Jude, Layla could already see the way Lucy and the pink haired boy looked at each other and she laughed at the knowledge that she was the only one who could see it yet. Of course as a romance novelist it made sense that she would be the first to know the truth behind their young eyes. Oh if only her husband knew what he was about to be in for.
In the basement of the Heartfilia residence, Levy, Gajeel's adorably petite, blue haired, genius girlfriend, stood on a desk shouting for the attention of the room. When she was ignored, her boyfriend stepped up to the plate.
"HEY!" He roared. "WILL YOU ALL SHUT UP AND LISTEN!" The room went silent as all eyes turned towards the pair.
"Thank you Gajeel. Now I have a fun game that we're all gonna play." she began, shaking an old bowler hat in her tiny hands. "Each couple is gonna pick a song out of this hat and they all have half an hour to come up with a routine."
"Choreograph? You mean dance shrimp?" Gajeel asked, looking down on his girlfriend, eyebrow raised.
"Dance?!" Natsu complained in unison. "I don't wanna dance!"
"Will you boys stop complaining?" she whined back. "It's gonna be fun! Right Lucy?", looking to the blonde for help.
"Yeah it does sound fun." Lucy admitted, pink dusting her high cheekbones.
"And I mean Gajeel I've never heard you turn down a chance to beat Natsu?" Levy added, much to her boyfriend's annoyance.
"HEY! WHO says he's going to beat me!?" Natsu yelled in response, making Gajeel burst out in laughter.
"YEAH OKAY Salamander." Gajeel gibbed in sarcasm.
"YOU'LL SEE YOU BEDAZZLED WIG!" Natsu yelled back. He grabbed Lucy by the arm, pulled out a slip of paper, and made his way out of the room.
"COME ON LUCY LET'S SHOW THESE LOSERS HOW TO WIN!" Natsu roared as he dragged her outside.
"So I actually have no idea what I'm doing." Natsu admitted when they were finally outside, causing Lucy to laugh at him.
"And you said you were going to beat Gajeel." Lucy chuckled, doubling over with laughter, holding her midsection.
"Hey we are going to beat Gajeel! I just don't know how to "choreograph" a dance to a song like this." he confessed, crossing his arms and leaning up against the car in the driveway.
"Luckily I do." she smiled with confidence. "Our song is slow and romantic, so we're probably going to have to do a lot of ballerina moves."
"I don't know how to do that, so looks like you'll have to show me how." he teased. She smiled at him in response and began dancing around in front of him.
Lucy spun around in place, sending her red skirt flying up around her and revealing the smooth skin of her legs. Jumping and leaping with her arms out, she exaggerated every motion with a teasing smile on her beautiful face.
"Don't you want to do this?" she asked him.
"Nope." he answered, allowing a hint of a smile to break onto his face.
"Not even a little bit?" she laughed as she leaped again, this time right in front of him.
"Not even a little bit." he repeated, letting the smile completely take over his face.
"Come on, give me your hand. Dance with me." she pleaded, hand outstretched in invitation. This time Natsu did not refuse, but instead shook his head at himself and let himself be swept away by the blonde girl.
"I have the perfect routine. It's pretty simple since I did it for my third grade ballet recital, so don't worry if you can't dance." she said as she began to spin him around in time with her. She laughed at the ridiculous sight that was them. She was a lonely girl, wearing a painfully hopeful red dress in the arms of a pink haired boy who had always been surrounded by people who loved him. What a strange couple they made.
She spun into his arms and they both lost their breath simultaneously. The way Lucy fit into his arms was like the way sunlight filtered through a window, an undeniable and completely irreversible true fact of nature. Their eyes locked and worlds aligned. The stars overhead shone a little brighter in anticipation at the way their noses knocked together. They were so close they were breathing in one another's air and the weight of said fact was pressing down on them with a heaviness they didn't understand. For years they had both been secretly admiring the other, but they'd never actually spoken until today and yet it felt like they had always known each other, like they belonged to each other.
How could they both be so drawn to someone they barely knew? Neither of them had a real answer besides the one they felt fluttering like butterflies in their chest. With each beat, their hearts seemed to share whispered secrets their brains didn't yet understand. Their lips came closer as they followed their instincts. Electric wasn't a strong enough word to describe the pull between them.
Of course then somebody came out and interrupted them saying, "Ten more minutes."
They broke apart immediately at the intrusion and stood awkwardly in the moments after he had gone. Natsu looked at the shiny old car that sat in the driveway.
"Is it still running?" he asked as he moved to stroke it's exterior.
"No." she started, "The carburetor is completely busted." Natsu waited for her to continue, as he could tell there was more to the story.
"It was my sister Michelle's." she elaborated. "We all want to sell it, but my Dad refuses to let anyone touch it." Her face fell after she spoke, the words obviously had a major effect on her. Natsu looked desperately for a way to bring a smile back to her face. Angels shouldn't be sad, he thought to himself.
"Maybe we should go back to our ballet. By the way Lucy, I'll have you know I am a great dancer." he suggested as he twirled around in a mock imitation of Lucy's own spin. It caused her to laugh hysterically, but none the less it brought her smile back, which pleased Natsu more than she could ever know.
"And here I was thinking that you couldn't dance. How unbelievable of me" she teased back. Natsu responded by repeating his same moves, eliciting the same angelic laugh from Lucy as before. They spent the rest of the time laughing and spinning around like idiots together.
Once the time was up and everybody was back inside, the "game" began. First up was Gray and Juvia, who choreographed a hilarious dance to the song "Let It Go". Strangely enough, Gray made a great snow queen.
After them was Gajeel and his girlfriend Levy who performed a fabulous rendition of "The Final Countdown" (obviously Gajeel's pic).
Following them was the ill waited Erza and Jellal who did a strange version of Beyonce's "Run the World" that left the room of teenagers scratching their heads and going, "huh?".
Then it was Natsu and Lucy's turn. Their song was "Everything has Changed" by Taylor Swift and they had planned what they imagined would be the most crowd pleasing routine performed by amature dancers of all time.
They took their places on the makeshift stage and waited until the music began to start their dance. Upon hearing the music they began circling one another, maintaining eye contact the whole time. Then they broke out. They swirled and whirled, and dipped and skipped together until their finale when Lucy jumped into Natsu's arms and posed. The crowd of rowdy and drunk teenagers roared as Lucy slid down and straight into Natsu's embrace. Her nose slid past his until her lips nearly reached his own. The same air from earlier slipped over the two and they forgot about their audience. They leaned in, smiling, unaware of the jealous hurt radiating off one white haired girl across the room who was watching them, and then the lights went out.
A resounding "ahhhhh" of disappointment rang through the darkness as everybody sought out their bearings. Natsu on the other hand, used the darkness to his advantage. He grabbed Lucy's hand and lead her out of the room into a small closet near the living room. In the small space, the two were extremely close and utterly alone even though just outside stood a sea of people, illuminated solely by the lighter Natsu had pulled out of his pocket.
"I've thought you were the prettiest girl in the whole world since freshman year." he whispered to her, the words just spilling out his mouth haphazardly. Even without any light, he could tell that she was smiling. It may not have been a declaration of love like Lucy had been secretly hoping, but in that moment it was all together better than anything else he could of said. She put her arms around his neck and lowered her lips down towards his, gently, afraid that he might evaporate into stardust and dreams right in front of her.
"Lucy!" she heard her father call outside, but she didn't care. She kept close to the boy in her arms, their lips millimeters from touching, breath intermingling. For once she found herself wishing her father would leave her alone.
"Lucy!" Jude yelled again, voice growing in urgency. Natsu broke away and whispered, breathlessly to her.
"I don't think he's going to give up." Lucy nodded agreement, leaning her forehead against his.
"I don't think so either." she said.
Slowly she opened the door to see her living room crowded with people and her father in the center of it all, in the middle of giving a speech. They all turned around and looked at her, then oohed when they saw Natsu emerge from behind her. Her father was completely caught off guard, but ignored it, knowing better than to air his family's dirty laundry in such a public way. He painted on his award winning smile and continued his speech.
"Lucy is the light of our lives, and as you can tell that is something we could use a little bit of right now. She has put in a lot of hard work and I know that's going to pay off in her very bright future at Brown this fall. To Lucy." Jude raised his glass to a resounding echo of his own words and everybody drank. Lucy stood uncomfortably in the gaze of all the eyes that were slowly devouring her.
Then the lights came on.
"Well I guess that's the sign that our night is over. Everybody drive safe on your way home." he said before he left the living room, the crowd slowly following suit.
Lucy went back over to Natsu and stood in front of him, arms behind her, looking up at him demurely through her eyelashes.
"Thank you for this." she told him as she gestured to the dying party around her.
"You're welco-" Natsu began but Jude interrupted him.
"Natsu, right?" Jude asked as he "politely" inserted himself between the boy and his daughter. Lucy looked uncomfortably at the tense exchange.
"Uh yeah that's right. It's nice to meet you." Natsu replied with a hopeful smile, hand extended for a shake.
"Can I walk you out?" Jude questioned the boy with one brow raised, waiting for him to challenge him. Natsu looked to Lucy for something. She gave him a small awkward smile.
"Sure." Natsu gave Lucy a goodbye smile and a wave before Jude led him out the back door to the driveway. Lucy followed, careful not to be caught, and stood by the back door to listen to their conversation.
Once outside Jude turned to look at Natsu, who refused to fold under his glare. "Natsu Dragneel. I think I know your dad. He's a mechanic right?" Jude asked, tucking his hands into his pockets confidently.
"Yep that's Igneel alright." Natsu said confidently. Igneel was calm and wise, and had never made a bad impression on anyone.
"He's a good man, your dad. I wish there were more people in this world like him." Jude said looking up at the boy in front of him.
"I wanna be like him one day." Natsu said wistfully, eyeing up the man as he looked observantly at the boy.
"For your sake I hope so too. Can I give you some advice, Natsu?" Jude asked the boy.
"Sure" Natsu responded.
"Try to think before you do stupid things, like oh I don't know, stealing a car worth more than your house. If you expect to have any further contact with my daughter, I expect you to at least act like someone on Lucy's level." Jude warned, looking down at the boy from what felt like a very high horse. He turned to leave, but the boy stopped him, fuming on the inside.
"Look I know I'm not what you want for Lucy, but I really like your daughter. I promise you no matter what that I will treat her right. I just want to make her happy." From the other side of the door, Lucy smiled to herself when she heard Natsu say that. She really liked him too and the events of the night felt more like a dream than reality.
"Goodnight Natsu." Jude said, and watched as the pink haired boy nodded at him and walked down the driveway towards the gate. How stupid the poor kid was to have fallen for his daughter, Jude thought to himself. Lucy was his golden girl and he wasn't going to let her end up with some mechanic, even if it was Igneel's son, but he figured that was a problem for another day. Jude turned and went back in the house, surprised to see Lucy standing there near the back door.
"Goodnight sweetheart." Jude said as he kissed his daughter's forehead.
"Goodnight Dad." she responded, watching him go up the stairs to bed.
She waited until she heard her father go into his room and then she ran out the back door to the , Natsu stood, leaning against a car, waiting in the wet summer air for her. The sight made her heart do a tap dance in her chest and before she knew it she was in his arms. They smiled at each other, like the giddy idiots they felt like inside, and then they kissed.
Mavis, it was everything. It was blinding and consuming. It was reckless and stupid- and it was right. Above all else, it felt right. Their lips moving together felt as important as worlds colliding and as simple as speaking one's own name. His lips were warm and soft, like cashmere blankets in the sun.
When they broke apart they looked at each other again, with the same absolute relish and happiness as before, as if just to make sure the other was still there after such an unreal experience. Her hands went into his hair and she cherished the way the strands slid between her fingers like water. His hands went around her waist and his lips pressed against hers again. It was powerful and addicting. There was electricity and fireworks and an absolute recklessness behind the whole thing that screamed I've just jumped off a cliff and I don't even care because I know I'll see you down there.
Then, just as quick as she had appeared, she broke apart from him and turned towards the safety of her big stone house. Natsu looked at her as she went and ran his tongue over his teeth to see if her taste was still there. It was. She tasted like heaven, if heaven could taste like so much like a sin. Standing there in that moment, he felt like a devil dragging an angel down to hell, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He watched as she ran up the path to her door. Her head was tossed back, hair flowing like a golden wave down her back, with her eyes closed and her arms out like a bird in the air, red dress flapping in the wind.
In that moment Natsu swore she looked like freedom and even though it had only been one moment, Natsu looked forward to having many, many more with the girl who flew like a bird and dazzled like the stars.