Chapter One
A/N: I do not own Fairy Tail (obviously!). Story is just for fun!
Lucy was tired. No, she wasn't just tired; she was exhausted. As she strolled through the familiar streets of Magnolia, she thought back on her last mission with weariness and pride. It was the first she had taken on by herself and she had finished it well, pushing herself more than usual. It was supposed to take 3 weeks but she had finished in only 10 days. '150,000 jewels!' she thought happily 'I'll have enough for rent and then some.' Smiling, she began to hurry towards her destination, hoping for nothing more than a warm reception and a hot shower.
As the stellar mage came upon her apartment, she hoped that her boyfriend of six months the fire dragon slayer, Natsu, would be home. They had moved in together after two months of dating seeing as how he spent more time at her place than his. They shared a bed almost every night but had not gotten past some heavy petting. 'Not that it was my choice' she thought moodily, since it had always been Natsu that stopped things before they got any further. Walking up the ledge near the water, the boaters warned her to be careful as they always did. Lucy waved at them and continued her balancing act. Smiling, she saw that it was quiet in her neighborhood today. Noting that her windows were open, she peered up at them, happy to finally be home. 'That's odd.' she thought, spotting a pink head of hair moving rhythmically and hearing a woman's loud moans. Creeping closer to the building, she distinctly heard her boyfriend moan loudly, "Lisanna!" followed by a husky "Oh.. Natsu..." Eyes wide, brimming with tears, Lucy staggered away from the building. She said nothing, thought nothing, felt nothing, as she made her way to the one place she could find some solace and, maybe, some answers; the Fairy Tail guild hall, her second home.
Arriving at the guild, the shaken girl had decided against coming in through the front door. Lucy really didn't want to face the guild as she was, not yet. Quietly she instead moved her way around the building to come through the back door into the stock room. Leaving her bags from travel just inside the door, she made her way up the back stairs into the Masters office, praying it was empty, to drop off the mission marker, showing that she had indeed completed her mission so that she could collect her jewels. 'I'll need the money now to figure out what I'm going to do' she thought.
Lucy took a moment in the quiet, empty office to calm herself before making her way back down through the store-room into the main area. Finally calm enough to function, she made her way down the back stairs, focused on her breathing. 'Someone here will have the answers I need,' she convinced herself, ' I just need to ask the right questions of the right person.' Picking her way through the storage area, she stopped just short of the opening to steel herself when she heard began pieces of a conversation. She wouldn't have stopped in the shocked state she was in but she had heard her name then Natsu's. She couldn't move, she had to hear what they had to say. So she waited in the shadows, and she listened straining her ears as far as she could.
"... when Natsu will tell her?" Levy said. Lucy knew the voice of her best girl friend and was shocked that Levy hadn't told her something that could possibly be terribly important.
"I have no idea" stated Mirajane. She sounded bored, like they had this conversation hundreds of times and that answer was always the same.
"Well, he better get on it soon," added Cana loudly, "Lucy will be back in about a week and they can't keep fuckin' like rabbits when she gets back." Lucy heard a glass slam on the bar and Cana ask for another. Lucy was startled at this admission. 'So that had been them at her apartment, there was no doubting it now.' she admitted to herself ruefully. She was shocked though, that Cana hadn't let something like this out earlier, knowing how her mouth is after a barrel or three.
"Sh.." whispered Mira "don't talk so loud! Everyone doesn't really need to hear this conversation do they?"
She sounded agitated. 'Get agitated, Mira.' thought Lucy 'I wish Cana would have been louder about it earlier. Maybe then I wouldn't be going through all this.' Lucy caught her sob before it sounded. Calming down slightly, she forced herself to listen on.
"Mira, everyone BUT the girl involved and a handful of others knows already." Levy whined, " I really wish that you, Natsu and Lisanna hadn't sworn us to secrecy. She deserves to know, Mira!"
"I know that!" Mira snapped "But Lisanna just came back, seemingly from the dead, and I just want her to be happy. She deserved happiness with us after she was gone for so long! Besides, Natsu and Lisanna already had history, with each other and the guild. Lucy on the other hand..."
Lucy's breath caught in her chest at this admission. She couldn't believe what she was hearing, and from Mirajane no less. 'So,' she sobbed inside her head 'everyone knows except me but it's all ok because THEY have history and Mira wants it.' She backed away from the door slowly, looking around zombie-like for a place to curl up in, to hide. Making her way back towards the stairs, Lucy spotted a space just big enough for her, under the stairs to the second floor and the Masters office .She fought to keep her sobs quiet, fought to keep from hyperventilating. Folding herself in under the stairs between some crates, she let her silent tears flow and let her heart scream out her pain in her mind.