A/N: i've been so lazy and let myself get off track! it's a little late, but here is day three: ribbon for NaLu week!
"Erza!" The scarlet-haired mage focused her attention on Natsu, who was slowly approaching her from the entrance of the guild. She took a sip of her water before standing to face him. He seemed to be a mixture of stressed, frustrated, and upset. She also noticed that he was holding a mission in his hand and Lucy wasn't there yet.
"Could you help me?" He slid the mission request to Mira, on the other side of the bar behind her. He also asked for a really hot cup of coffee, seeing as how he didn't sleep very well last night and was tired.
"It's kinda embarrassing, so don't laugh!"
"I could spare the time today, I suppose. Though, the mission does seem kind of boring..."
"No, no! I can handle the mission just fine, it's just... I'm about to head out and I can't find my lucky ribbon. I looked everywhere last night and couldn't find it!" Mira stamped the mission, passed him a steaming cup of coffee, and told him he had to leave right away. Struck by the urgency, he gulped down his coffee and yelled for Happy to get ready to go. Lucy was just now strolling in to the guild, joining Cana and Mira -who had moved to the other side of the bar- in some gossip. Erza wanted more details, and Natsu didn't seem like he would slow down to answer any questions.
"Hm? What's this about a ribbon?"
"No time! Please, find it for me! I gotta go!" Natsu and Happy were gone in a trail of dust, the guild doors creaking closed a few inches after being thrown open so violently. Erza stated out after him and blinked, his urgent request still on her mind. He had apparently misplaced this ribbon, which was important to him somehow. He didn't give her any details, as he strangely picked up a mission by himself and was already late heading out. She looked around and spotted Lucy, hoping the celestial mage knew something about this that could help her.
Erza slid into the seat across from Lucy, catching her attention. She looked away from where Cana and Mira were chatting to the scarlet-haired mage before her. She smiled at her friend and offered her a cookie from the plate in front of her. Erza accepted, her sweet tooth unable to resist.
"Lucy, do you know anything about Natsu's ribbon?"
"Huh? What ribbon?"
Explaining the strange request to her, Erza then asked if Lucy would mind helping her look for it. Maybe he had lost it at his house, or maybe somewhere in the guild? Erza set off to look in his home, and Lucy began to scour every inch of Fairy Tail.
Looking under the tables, chairs, and cupholders proved fruitless. She checked on top of doorways and she even checked the folded up pieces of paper that kept the tables from rocking. She unfolded every towel and tablecloth and re-folded them, she checked behind the bar and she even went outside to check in the bushes. Nothing.
Frowning, she decided to further inspect his route to the guild while Erza was still checking his home. Hopefully the re-equip mage found something.
Erza had found probably less than Lucy had. She was only through with the living room and bathroom, but they were also filled with knic-knacks. Natsu liked to collect little, petty things while he was out of Magnolia, and he still ended up buying one or two things in town since he walked right through the shopping district to go home. She lifted each one carefully and inspected the corners of the room, she took apart the couch, she looked in the water tank of the toilet, even.
She was finishing up in the kitchen when there was a knock at the door. Backtracking through the house, she answered to onl find Lucy before her, looking frustrated.
"I looked all around the guild, and outside of it, and I even checked everywhere on my way here. There was no ribbon!" Lucy plopped down on the couch with a huff. Erza struck a determined pose, a fist clenched before her.
"I will not allow us to give up! We still have to look through... the bedroom." As she neared the end of her sentence, Erza opened the door only to reveal that there was so much stuff on the floor that neither of them could slip in. Lucy tried to shove it open by force, but Erza simple removed the door from its hinges.
Before them lay a vast expanse of clothes, toys, Happy's fish bones, random knic-knacks, games, movies, comic books, and even a few magic books. It stood to their knees, except for one slender walk way that lead from the window to the bed. The carpet was black, hopefully naturally, and seemed to form an inky trail that was stark across the assortment of colors. Somehow, neither was surprised by the amount of mess, but they were still shocked that he had amassed so much stuff and he kept it everywhere. But his mess was confined to home, and as such, They were confident that the ribbon was in here somewhere.
Erza was immediately digging -with a shovel, and she even had given Lucy one- and they slowly spread out his mess to the entire house. Once it wasn't compacted anymore, they could glance through all of the rooms and be able to identify any ribbon that may be hiding.
Four hours later, all of Natsu's things had been examined, put back, re-examined, gone through again, and then shoved back into his room just as messily as it had been before they got there. They were both empty handed, only bearing a thick string that was a long shot off from a ribbon. It took an additional hour -five in total- to convince Erza that it really was lost.
"It'll turn up soon, Erza. We can look again tomorrow if he isn't back by then!" Lucy volunteered on their walk home. Erza smiled at her and accepted, parting ways to head home. They started looking around 10AM and it was now sundown, her favorite time to walk beside the canal on her way home. She wondered idly where the ribbon could possibly be, but then she really began to wonder where this ribbon even came from. She tried and failed to come up with answers - Natsu had his scarf, from Igneel, and that was important. Maybe it was a ribbon from Lisanna?
She smiled to herself at his gesture, keeping a ribbon from a childhood friend. Lucy knew that mourning was a slow process, and assumed he kept it for some personal reason. Unlocking her door, Lucy immediately threw herself into bed and bundled up in the covers when she felt something wrap around her leg as she twisted. Forehead crinkling, she reached down and pulled out what seemed to be one of her ribbons-
Upon closer inspection, she knew that it wasn't hers, and she wondered how it got there. It couldn't be Natsu's, but she knew for a fact that she didn't take this when she left her home. How was her mother's ribbon tangled up in her bed? All of her solutions were weak. Why would Natsu have this? Where would he have gotten it?
"Yo, Luce, I'm back! How about we do a mission tomorrow! Ours was really boring, right Happy?"
"Aye! Just a lot of standing around, and we couldn't even eat any of the food!"
Natsu hopped down from the window and sat down on one of her chairs, and he then realized his partner hadn't said a word. He stared at the bed for a while before understanding that she was buried in blankets. He scooted his chair over and opened where he assumed her face was only to be met with a fist to his face.
"Ow! What was that for!"
"Where did you get this?" The hand that struck him was holding a tattered blue ribbon with a faded white 'L' on the end. He struggled to not snatch it from her, as snatching is rude, but he did quickly reach out and grasp it. Her hold was firm and he didn't try to tug it from her hand. She was giving him a firm look that screamed 'You get nothing until I know what's going on' and he was not about to try and challenge her.
"I had it when Igneel found me. That's all." He held on a little tighter and the ribbon slid from her hand and into his, noticing the slightly different smell. He slid it into his pocket and completely changed the subject, telling Lucy all about the very lame mission he and Happy went on. As he spoke, she couldn't help but laugh at his exaggerations -as Happy constantly called him out- while stroking her mother's ribbon that she held under the covers that she was still wrapped in. 'Sorry, Natsu, but I just can't give it up.'
'She gave me her ribbon instead? Well, that one was getting a little worn anyway..."