Hi guys! At the end of The Screwed up Story of Us I had the idea for this fan fiction. I've decided to make this one longer so updates will take longer. Always feel free to leave a review. I do read them!

Chapter 1

Natsu was an orphan. He could still remember his father Igneel but he just left him one day, to be alone after his mother died. No matter where he went he always messed things up. He couldn't help it; he liked to set things on fire and was just a loud person. Plus nobody ever seemed to want Natsu. He was already 17 and nobody wanted to adopt a kid who would leave them in a year, he was just too old now and all he had to do was wait until he could be on his own and he had accepted that.

Natsu walked into his new home. Fairy Tail's Foster home. He was kicked out of the last foster home again because he set the bathroom on fire. Boo hoo, who cares? He never liked that place anyways. The kids there were too well behaved and the adults too stern, it was not his kind of place. This Fairy Tail seemed different already. The outside looked like a house rather than a gray apartment complex and he walked into what seemed like a restaurant. There where tables scattered around the large floor with a-was that a bar? It sure looked like it. There were kids of all ages sitting at the tables talking and laughing while eating real food, not the dumb cafeteria food he was used to. Everybody looked pretty happy besides two people in a fight in the corner of the room, all legs and dust. Was anybody going to stop them? Natsu looked around to see a small old man sitting by a pretty girl with white hair who looked like she was in her 20's. He must be the person in charge he thought.

Natsu strode up to the old man sitting on the table, luggage dragging behind him. "Um...hi, I'm Natsu Dragneel and I'm new so-"

He interrupted him, "I know child, I'm master Makarov and I've already got your room set up. Would you like me to show it to you so you can put your things away?" Natsu was a little surprised at how kind he was. In all the other foster homes the adults were so lifeless and uncaring but Gramps here sounded sincere and had kind eyes. Natsu smiled a little.

"Yeah."

Natsu's room was on the top floor and was pretty big. The whole upper floor was just four rooms and one of them was the bathroom and another small library. His room was red and had a dark wooden door that looked like charred wood and had a huge window overlooking the street below them. Makarov looked up at him, way up, and said, "I'm sorry about the door, it was burned in an incident last year and we haven't replaced it yet. Other than that I hope you like the room."

"No! I like it!" Natsu said back. He looked to the side to see another door, smooth and white and overall very pretty. "Who's in that room?"

Makarov winced a little. "That room belongs to Lucy Heartfilia. She doesn't come out much; she's been through a lot…" He paused for a minute then continued, "I never give anyone this room but we are full right now so this is the only one left, I'm sure it will be fine. Lucy is a sweet girl but has been through too much for a girl who is only 16. But never mind that, come downstairs when you're done unpacking and I'll have Mirajane show you around, all right?"

Natsu nodded then walked into his room and set his bag on the bed. It was old and a little hard with black and gray blankets and a single large pillow that emitted dust. Had anyone ever slept in this room? He pulled out his clothes and shoved them messily into the dresser in the corner along with a box of matches a small box with his savings and his favorite white scarf that his father had given him. He didn't have much, every time he moved foster homes he left more and more behind. Natsu sat on the bed for a minute looking around at his new temporary home. So far it didn't seem like a bad place. Sighing a little he left the bedroom and went downstairs to find Mirajane. He walked into the giant cafeteria room and looked around. Who was Mirajane? Then that woman with long white hair walked up to him and smiled. "Hi, I'm Mirajane. I'm going to give you the grand tour!"

Natsu smiled, she seemed really friendly. He followed her as she showed him all four floors containing the other kid's rooms, the game room and the newly built pool in the back that was always crowded. They finished back in the main room that they had started in. "Why don't you make some friends? People here are very nice and I'm sure you'll fit in right away!"

"Thanks Mira!"

Natsu looked around the room again, it seemed like nobody had moved in the time he had been there. His eyes went straight to the two tables in the center of the room. There was a group of girls at one table looking over at a group of guys having a heated discussion. Sounded like his kind of people. He walked over to them and sat down, getting weird looks from the kids sitting there.

"I'm Natsu." He said simply.

A kid with black hair and droopy eyes glared at him. He pointed to a boy with piercings and black spiky hair that went past his shoulders. "That's Gajeel and this is Loke," He said. Loke had orange hair and wore these tinted glasses. He continued, "And I'm Gray and I want to know what you're doing here."

Yikes. He obviously had some kind of problem. "I just came here today and thought I'd sit here too, is that a problem?" Gray eyed him but Loke welcomed him with open arms.

"Welcome to Fairy Tail Natsu. Now let's talk about girls."

Loke told him the girls at the table over were Levy, and Juvia, both of who were staring at Gajeel and Gray. There were also girls named Cana and Lisanna. Lisanna kept sneaking looks at Natsu when she thought he wasn't looking. He couldn't help but think she was very pretty with her silver hair and big blue eyes and her sweet little laugh. Yet she wasn't quite right for Natsu, he could just tell. A couple hours later he and Loke were decent friends and Gray and Gajeel were a little nicer. He was doing pretty good on his first day here. Maybe he would even be able to stay a full year without screwing something up this time.

At about 6:00 tons of people filed down the stairs and out of other rooms for dinner. This place really did work like a restaurant, just no one payed. Mira served tables and Natsu ate piles and piles of food when something caught his eye. A beautiful girl was walking the stairs alone. She had golden blond hair that ended near her shoulders and doe brown eyes that enchanted him. She was wearing a blue and white tank top and an impossibly short skirt. She silently shuffled to the table with Levy, Juvia, Cana, and Lisanna and sat down. The girls obviously knew her but seemed surprised she was there.

"Who's that?" He had to ask, he hadn't seen her at all today. Gray winced a little.

"That's Lucy Heartfilia. She's really nice and all but bad things happened to her and she got sent here. She's pretty quiet but she does have friends. The last time Lucy came down stairs for dinner was last month. Usually Mira brings her anything she needs."

So that was the girl he was sleeping next to. Gramps said she went through a lot but he didn't want to ask him. Instead he asked Gray.

"What kind of bad things?"

Everyone at the table went silent for a moment before Gajeel answered. "Her mom died when she was little. She was with Lucy when she somehow got hit by a car. Lucy saw her own mother die. And if that's not bad enough her dad beat her because he thought it was her fault his wife died. He was taken away a couple years ago when her teacher saw her bruises. She never told anybody, don't know why."

Natsu gaped a little. That poor girl, no wonder she avoided people. Pity swelled in his heart and he looked down feeling bad for asking. Loke spoke up a second later trying to break the tension that had dropped onto the table. "So who wants pie?" Gray laughed. "I do!" He yelled loudly. They all ate the rest of dinner chatting with smiles and laughter but Natsu kept looking at Lucy. How could they just ignore her?

She ate and offered a polite smile here and there but they didn't reach her pretty eyes. Summer had just started and kids were up all night in the pool and game rooms but she went back up the stairs after dinner. Once she reached the top of the first flight she stole a look downstairs at her friends. That look broke Natsu's heart. It was full of longing and regret and she quickly walked up the next flight of stairs like she was ignoring the fact that she wanted to stay. He could practically see the wall built around Lucy Heartfilia. Her despair and loneliness would swallow her whole and she was letting it.

Natsu didn't understand why he cared so much, but he did. He just met this girl but he wanted to badly to fix her. Maybe she couldn't be fixed, but he was going to try anyway. He went back upstairs around midnight. Just before his hand reached the doorknob of room his eyes drifted to Lucy's door. Why not? He lightly knocked on it. "Hello?" No one answered. I really shouldn't, he thought. He did anyway: He opened her door to find a gigantic room. Empty. He took a few steps in and looked at the room. It had a bed with pink blankets, a table and chairs in the middle, a wooden dresser, a chair, a bookshelf and a mirror. The walls were pink too and the dresser had pictures of Lucy and the girls downstairs.

Feeling guilty he quickly closed the door. The room was too neat and felt sad for some reason. Maybe it was because there was no evidence of magazines or music like in every teenage girl's room. Or maybe it was the absence of old family photos. Maybe it was the fact that in the pictures with her friends she was smiling but still looked so sad. Natsu looked at the door to the library. That was the only other place she could be: she had never gone back downstairs. Not that he was watching or anything.

Natsu opened the door and walked in. The library was pretty small, maybe smaller than Lucy's room. Shelves lined every wall from floor to ceiling and the only other things in the room were 2 arm chairs on either side of a glass table. In one was Lucy her eyes scanning the words inside a gigantic book. Feeling awkward he cleared his throat. She flinched and looked up, surprised.

"Hi…I'm Natsu and I just got here today."Looking a little scared she just nodded a little. "Who are you?" he knew the answer but wanted to be polite. (Not one of his strong suits.)

"L-Lucy."

It only took that one word for Natsu to love the sound of her voice. It sounded sweet and gentle and filled him with warmth. Feeling a little braver he sat down in the other chair across from her. "Watcha doing?" He asked.

Lucy looked at him like he was stupid. "Reading." Oh yeah, dumb question. He chuckled a little at his own stupidity. She looked at him with wide eyes like he was crazy.

"Sorry," he said, "Dumb question. Is this your own library? Nobody else is in here so…"

"Yeah, Makarov lets me use it."

"So then you really like to read huh?"

"Uh huh?" It sounded like a question. She looked at him like he was on crack or something.

"So then Luce, do you-"

"Luce?"

"Erm yeah… sorry." Natsu replied. He continued, "Do you mind if I read here too?"

"Actually…"

"Great!" He grabbed a book about dragons and sat down ignoring an incredibly confused Lucy. He stared at the page until she looked back down to her book, looking a little uncomfortable. He would become her friend, whether she wanted him to or not.