this is my first try at writing a fanfiction. i hope you guys enjoy.*

Summery- Natsu goes on a job without Lucy, Happy or anyone else. It was strange enough as it is. It's when he gets back that things really start to get bizarre. Told in Lucy's POV.

Chapter 1

It was a normal day at Fairy Tail. Most people are either looking at the request board for or job or have already left. I decided to just relax at the guild with my friends since the last job I took gave me enough money to last for at least 3 months of rent. Finally some time to cut back a little. I was sitting at my usual spot, the stool right in front of the counter. I was waiting for Mira to finish waiting her tables so we could talk so I ordered my own food so I don't feel hungry.

"Lucy!" I heard a squeaky voice call out. I was a little surprised to hear this voice. I turned to see Happy flying toward me.

"Happy?" I said. "I thought you went on a job with Natsu." He shook his head.

"Not this time." He replied. I was a little surprised at this.

"Why not? Did something happen?" I asked him.

"I don't know. We were looking at the request board and Natsu saw this request that he took particular interest in." He explained. "He told me he wanted to do this one alone. I asked him why and he said he just felt like it."

"And you didn't think that was strange?" I asked him. Happy shrugged his shoulders.

"I might not know why, but I respect his privacy." He said. I chuckled at that comment.

"Really? Since when?" I said jokingly. He crossed his arms in annoyance. Then I noticed two people coming our way. It was Erza and Gray. I haven't seen them since yesterday since they went on a job together.

"Gray! Erza! You guys are back!" I said. Erza waved at me.

"Hello Lucy. Everything going well here?" She asked. I nodded.

"So far, no one has started any fights." I said. She smiled and looked around the guild.

"That's good. It's really nice here when nobody is causing any commotion." She said. Gray looked around the guild too.

"Yeah, maybe a little too nice." He added. He turned back to me. "Where's Natsu?"

"He went a job by himself." I replied. Erza turned back to us. She looked over at Happy.

"Without Happy?" She asked. I nodded. She had a confused look on her face. "That's rare."

"Yeah, no kidding." Gray added. I was a little curious to know why Natsu decided to go on a job alone, without Happy. Right on cue, Mira came over to the counter.

"Oh Erza, Gray! You're back." She said.

"Hey Mira." Gray said.

"Did you destroy another town?" Mira asked.

"No thankfully." Erza answered. I chuckled at her answer. It's rare for the team to not destroy anything, even if it meant leaving a huge crater on the side of the town.

"That's good to hear. I don't think Master could take anymore stress." Mira said.

"Yeah, no kidding." I said.

"Oh Mira, do you know whta job Natsu went on?" Gray interrupted. Mira looked at him for a second.

"That was sudden." She said.

"It's just rare for him to go on a job without Happy at least." Erza said. Mira went to the back. She came back with a flyer in her hand. She put it on the counter for all of us to see.

"This is the job he took?" Gray asked. Mira nodded. I looked down at the flyer. It didn't really have a title except "Ellie." I was so confused by it. I took the flyer and decided to read it out loud.

"Only one wizard will know this name. If you get this, please go back to the place it happened, 7 years ago." I read. I looked down at the reward money. I was surprised to see that it was only 70,000 Jewel. I turned it for the others to see it clearly.

"Only 70,000 Jewel?" Gray said. "And a weird message." Erza took the flyer.

"This is rather strange." She said. "Do you think he got the message?" I was about to say something when Happy landed on my shoulder.

"Ha. Like Natsu could ever understand anything, let alone an encrypted message." He said. I looked at him sternly.

"That's harsh. How could you say that about your best friend?" I said to him.

"What do you mean? I'm just saying the truth. Is there anything wrong with that?" He replied. I let out a sigh.

"You may be right Happy, but I don't think that Natsu would go to a place for just this much money." I pointed out. "And how would he know where to go if there's no directions or town listed?"

"She does have a point." Erza said looking down at the flyer again. "Natsu wouldn't know where to go since there's no other information on this flyer." Gray turned to Mira.

"Mira, do you have any idea where this request came from or who posted it?" He asked. Mira shook her head.

"I don't really payed attention to the bored so I never noticed it." She replied. "I'll go up to contact the other guildmasters. They might have more information on this." She turned and walked to the back room.

"We could always wait for Natsu to return. I don't think this request would really take this long." Happy said.

"Why do you say that?" I asked him.

"We came here very early in the morning. It's 4 in the afternoon right now. He's bound to at least make it back before dark." He answered.

"We're gonna have to if we want to get some answers on this." Gray said. Mira came back from the back room.

"That qas fast." Erza said. Mira shrugged her shoulders.

"None of the other guilds have the request on their boards. It seems we're the only guild who has it." She said.

"Seriously?" Gray said.

"Now it definitely seems like this request was meant to go to Natsu." Erza said. I was starting to get really worried about Natsu. He was never really secretive to anyone in the guild. He was always open to everyone, sometimes more than he has to be. It was so weird for him to be this way. It was then that i heard the whole guild go quiet. I looked up to see Erza, Gray, and Happy looking at the doorway. I looked to see Natsu walking up the the counter. I would've been happy to see him but something seemed off about him. He walked to Mira without saying anything to anyone.

"It's nice to see you again Natsu!" Mira said in her happy tone. "How did the job go?" Natsu didn't say a word. He simply looked down. He didn't seem very happy, which was something else that was rare, maybe even never really seen other when he's angry. He then reached into his pocket and held out money in my direction. I was confused for a second.

"I don't need it." He said in a monotone voice. I looked at him but he was still looking down. I was really starting to get concerned about him but I didn't know what I would ask him. I hesitantly took the money slowly.

"I'm guessing this means that means the job went well." Erza said. Natsu just nodded without looking at her.

"What was it exactly?" Gray asked. Natsu stood there for a few seconds, still avoiding eye contact with anybody.

"It's none of your business Gray." He said. He turned to go away but then Gray put his hand on his shoulder.

"I'd say it's plenty of my business." Gray says sternly. "You go on a quest without anyone, not even Happy, your quest consists of an encrypted message and nothing else and it's not even on any of the other guild's request boards, and you come back like this!" Natsu looks at Gray. It wasn't a glare or even just a normal look. There was no emotion in his face which made me feel actual fear being only a few feet from him. I honestly would've felt better if he would've just punched Gray right now, but he didn't do anything. He just stood there, staring at Gray intently.

"I have nothing to say to you Gray." He said. Gray still kept his hand on Natsu's shoulder. It was then when Erza walked next to him.

"Gray, I know how you feel about this, but if Natsu has reason why he's not telling us this, I think that we should respect his privacy." She said. I saw a twitch in Gray's face and I saw say his throat go up a little, meaning he hesitated. I got up from my seat walked up to him.

"Gray, please just leave Natsu alone. I'm sure he'll tell us everything when he feels like it." I said. Gray looked at me and then he looked at Erza. She nodded her head firmly. Gray let out a sigh and let go of Natsu's shoulder. He rubbed a little. I guess Gray's grip was harder than he thought.

"Don't follow me Happy." Natsu said suddenly. "I have some business to take care of before I head home." I looked over at Happy. He seemed as distraught as I did over Natsu's strange behavior. He slowly nodded his head while letting out a soft sigh.

"Ok Natsu." He replied. With that, Natsu walked out of the guild hall as quickly as he could. We all turned to face each other with more than confused faces.

"That was..." Happy started off.

"Weird." Gray responded.

"Different." Erza added. I looked over at the door again.

"Bizarre." I said.

END

What do you guys think? Did I do good for my first time. I'll do my best to not make you guys wait too long for the next chapter. Hope you guys enjoy. Thanks!*