A/N: Hi everyone! Dre the Cat here! Please like, follow, and review any suggestions! I'll try to update this weekly, so every Monday! I'll let you guys know if I need a break/ hiatus. I don't intend to drop this though, so don't worry! I won't just leave you halfway!

Lucy was tired of always sitting on the sidelines.

By no means was she a regular mage, and nobody had ever really looked down on her. Within the Fairy Tail guild, she was respected, as were all the other members. But when compared with the rest of her team, it was difficult to claim that she was even an "average" mage.

If she were to join Levy's team, she would blend right in. But because her teammates were monsters, one of them being Queen Titania herself, any random onlooker would see Lucy's abilities and think less of them.

At first, it hadn't really bothered Lucy. Heck, how could she get upset when she was in the guild of her dreams, Fairy Tail? If anything, she could learn and gain experience by sitting on the sidelines. Besides, it wasn't like she was the type of person who was eager to join any random fight, like Natsu or Gray.

But as time passed on, Lucy couldn't help but feel like she was always a damsel in distress. More worrisome was the fact that whenever her guildmates had a problem, they rarely turned to Lucy for help. Sure, she could give great relationship advice, but if her guildmates ever needed help in a fight, they would always turn to other members in her team first.

Not that Lucy blamed her guildmates, either. If she were ever in a dire situation where she needed to call for help, she would also pick Erza over herself in a heartbeat. But still, it hurt that she wasn't as reliable a guildmate as others; she knew she was really in trouble when people were asking Wendy for help over her.

Lucy sighed, watching her guildmates bustle around her in the guild hall. If only she could become stronger, faster. If only she could unlock the true potential of the star dress…

The star dress was a gift that the Celestial Spirit King had given her that granted her the abilities of the celestial spirits she owned while they were summoned. Although it was powerful, it did carry consequences with it: it drained her mana quickly and gave her power that was only half of her celestial spirit. However, the Celestial Spirit King had told her that if she carried all 12 keys, she could theoretically unlock the full power of the dress.

But that was impossible. Her good friend Yukino had all the remaining keys, and Lucy understood the deep bond that Yukino shared with her celestial spirits. Taking the keys from Yukino would be a selfish action, especially if it was only for a little more power.

Still…

"Hah," Lucy sighed, staring into the empty drink that Mirajane had poured her a while back when she first sat down.

"What's up, Lucy?"

Lucy jumped up, startled by the face sitting only inches away from her. "How long have you been there?"

Natsu grinned, seemingly oblivious to Lucy's problems. "It's not like I've just been sitting here, staring at you while you've been thinking about who- knows- what. Does your stomach hurt or somethin'?"

"Eh? No, no! That's not it; I've just been doing some thinking, that's all. It's nothing, really."

Natsu frowned, annoyed that Lucy hadn't shared any of her thoughts. "So… you just gonna sit here and think again, or do you want to head back to the apartment? It's getting late, you know- ow!"

Lucy smacked him, interrupting whatever it was he was thinking. "Why are you inviting me to my own apartment? It's not yours, Natsu, so please stop acting like you own the place!"

Natsu grinned, happy to see his best friend back to her lively old self. "Whatever you say, Lucy. But please, don't kick me out! Where else am I supposed to go? Have pity on Happy, he's just a little cat!"

Lucy giggled. "Whatever, moron, let's just head out."

Lucy loved these moments. Moments where abilities and powers didn't matter; moments where she didn't have to constantly think about Acnalogia or Zeref or E.N.D. In those moments, she just felt normal, happy, and safe.

As they headed out of the guild hall and towards Lucy's small (and cheap) apartment, Natsu abruptly grabbed Lucy's shoulders and moved her to face him.

"Lucy. Listen. If there's ever anything you can't stop thinking about, you know I'm here to listen."

Lucy shrugged him off and kept walking. "Natsu, don't worry about it. I'm really fine; I was just thinking about all the memories the guild has given me."

All the memories about me being weaker, the dark cloud in Lucy's mind interrupted. She bit her lip and turned away from Natsu.

Natsu had already turned away and hadn't noticed Lucy's sudden shift in behavior. He trusted his best friend; if she said she was ok, then she was ok. He still felt obligated to constantly ask her, though, as he knew that she had struggled with loneliness and depression when she was younger.

They continued walking in silence, Natsu thinking about how pathetically empty his stomach was and Lucy thinking about how pathetically weak she was.

Lucy, come on girl, cheer up. Why are you feeling so down, anyway? You're in Fairy Tail, you're already one of the best of the best! You've surpassed Mom in terms of magical ability, and she was originally so far out of your league. Think happy thoughts!

Happy thoughts… like when she was with Natsu and they were just joking around about everyday life. Or when she was with Erza, at a sweets shop. Yelling at Gray to keep his clothes on, and giggling with Wendy during karaoke kpop nights. Happy thoughts…

"Umm… Lucy?" Natsu's voice dragged Lucy back to reality, and she realized that she had stopped walking. The red cobblestone seemed to shine in the night, and the sound of water from the canal seemed much louder than usual.

"Sorry Natsu. Were you saying anything?"

Natsu shook his head. "Not me, but have you been listening to the people around you? The citizens keep talking about some meteor, you know what that's about?"

"Ah!" Lucy grinned, suddenly remembering the miraculous phenomena that was supposed to occur that night. "Asteria's Comet is supposed to fly by today! We should call Happy and the others to come watch it, it's supposed to be magical!"

"Magical?" Natsu snorted. "Everything we do is magical, how's this supposed to be any different?"

Lucy giggled. "Natsu, stop it! I just mean that it's supposed to be out of this world! Apparently, the sky turns bright red as the comet streaks by in blue and gold. And since it's night time, we'll be able to see it better! Come on, let's hurry up and go to higher ground, like my roof!"

"Aww, Lucy, if you wanna see a red sky at night just tell me! I'll go set something on fire! I don't really wanna stay up right now, I'm tiredddd." Natsu dragged the last vocal of the word to emphasize his exhaustion.

Lucy sighed as she reached the door to her apartment. Carefully pulling her apartment key out of her bag, ensuring that her celestial keys were still safely tucked away, she opened her apartment to find Gray, Erza, and Happy feasting on the remnants of her fridge. As she loudly opened the door, time seemed to pause, and all individuals stopped eating to look up.

"Erza! That was the last of my triple berry pie! How could you?' Lucy's shrill voice rang out against the silence.

Erza daintily picked up a napkin to wipe away the traces of berry that were still glistening on her mouth. "Sorry, Lucy. I just saw it sitting there, helpless and defenseless, and I just felt that it was begging me to eat it, so please understand that it was my duty as a knight to-"

Gray snorted, interrupting Erza. "Yeah, the poor, defenseless pie that Lucy hid behind a ton of other groceries. Did you dive into that fridge or what?"

Lucy faintly smiled. She couldn't really stay mad at them, especially when they were acting like hyperactive children. In fact, it just made her feel more like she belonged. Forget powers; she loved them for their ability to always spice things up a little bit.

"Oh right! Guys, there's a comet coming soon- Asteria's Comet! Do you guys want to join me on the roof to watch it?" Lucy tried her best to infuse enthusiasm into her voice, hoping everyone would watch the comet that only appeared every two centuries with her.

"Eh. A comet? Let me eat my fishies in peace." Happy munched on his fish as he adamantly sat down, making it clear that he wasn't moving an inch.

"Happy's right. Lucy, I already told you that I just wanna sleep. If you want to see a red sky, I can make that happen for you some other day." Natsu sat down on her bed, rubbed his eyes, and cuddled into her blankets.

"Natsu! You can sleep on the couch but not my bed. Erza and Gray, go to your own apartments! Or bring a sleeping bag! Nobody but me sleeps on my bed!" Lucy sighed, making it clear that the little "party," or better yet, buffet, was over. "I'm leaving then, to go see the comet."

Lucy got up to leave as Erza and Gray shared a concerned glance. Slapping Natsu awake, they followed Lucy up to the roof to watch the comet. Erza hugged Lucy as the sky became as scarlet as Erza's hair.

Lucy grinned, excited to be surrounded by her closest friends, people she loved, and people she knew that loved her. Keeping her face forward so that they wouldn't see how her eyes were watery with joy, she silently whispered, "Look. The comet's coming by."

Lucy felt like she was floating. Words couldn't do justice to the comet- the scarlet red contrasted magnificently with the royal blue streaks of the comet, and the glittering, golden yellow that was the comet. She felt the warmth of Erza's arms around her waist, Gray's hand next to hers, and Natsu's head on her shoulder. Her Celestial Keys jingled, as if responding to her positive emotions, and she sighed. She wished that moment could last forever- that moment where they just were, where finding Igneel, the book of E.N.D., or taking down Acnologia didn't matter. Where they were just friends who had each other.

The world around her suddenly started to feel faint, as white overwrote the red and blue she had just seen moments before. She couldn't feel the warmth of those around her anymore, but she did feel extremely peaceful. She closed her eyes as a hum enveloped her hearing, and then, nothing.

Startled, she opened her eyes to the familiar sight of the ceiling above her head. She briefly wondered how she got there, but she shook the oddity of it off- her friends had probably tucked her in after the long night. She started to relax again before springing up, fully awake.

"I'm in my pajamas!" Lucy screamed, realizing she wasn't even wearing any underwear beneath her pajamas. Whoever had changed her clothes had seen everything…

"Come out, perv! Who was it?" She angrily stomped into the living room, oblivious to the fact that her nightgown was transparent. She didn't care- she just wanted to knock whoever it was who had changed her without her permission.

Strangely enough, the apartment was completely empty. No flying cat, no snoring pyromaniac, no murderer of sweets, and no stripper. She looked around for a note, which her friends usually left her after a night together. But there was no note, and no people.

In fact, the apartment felt strangely… different. The decorations were slightly off, but Lucy couldn't really tell what was off. She reached down for her keys to ask one of her more intelligent Celestial… huh?

Lucy squinted, trying to regain her train of thought. What keys? Who was she going to ask? Why was she thinking about any of this? She was going to be late for her first day of her first year at college!

No, wait. Something's off. Guild… keys… dragon… Zeref… mage. What's wrong? What is this? Why am I thinking about random words?

Anxiety clawed at Lucy's heart. She knew that she had had an important thought, but why was it important? Determined, she picked up an empty journal and recorded her feelings of anxiety and displacement, as well as all the random words that were seemingly being dropped out of thin air. She scrunched up her face, trying to force herself to think of anything else, but it felt as though her brain was replaced with a hazy fog the harder she tried. Suddenly, her phone rang, breaking her out of her stupor.

"Umm, hello?" Lucy was still a little bit addled and was too exhausted to check caller ID.

"Luce, where are you? You realize that our first class starts in three minutes, right? Are you ok? Do I need to pick you up? How could you be late for our first day at Brevard U? Lucy!"

The deep, panicky voice on the other end sounded familiar. Lucy pursed her lips and carefully answered, "Nat…su?"

"Lucy, are you high? No shit it's Natsu! Don't worry, I'm already on my way to your house. Hurry up and get changed, you dumbass, I can tell you just woke up. See ya soon."

Natsu hung up, leaving Lucy feeling even more confused, as memories suddenly flooded into her mind. Natsu was her best friend since elementary school, and they were psyched that they were attending the same university together. Lucy was even more excited because she could finally move out, away from her father and the stifling Heartfilia mansion, and into the heart of one of the busiest cities in the world- Magnolia. Lucy had gotten into Brevard because of her intellect (and, honestly, her famous family name had helped a little), while Natsu had gotten in because of a track and field scholarship. And this device that transmitted his voice, as if magically…

No, not magically. It was through engineering. A cellular device that could connect people no matter how far apart they were, as long as it was paid for.

Lucy jumped away from her haze. She had to be on time for class, it was important for her major! Her major was political science, and this class that she was taking with Natsu was an international history class. And she had to make sure she looked good- Natsu was a great friend, but she was excited at the prospect of making more friends. Natsu was her one and only friend, but she intended to change that.

Friends… Scarlet? Gray? Before she could forget, Lucy quickly scribbled down the colors into her notebook where she had recorded that morning's thoughts. She would make sense of it all later- right now, it was more important to get to class.

Changing into a white miniskirt and a tight, blue, long sleeve shirt, Lucy confidently looked at herself in the mirror. Back in the Heartfilia household, she would've never been allowed to leave the house wearing these clothes, but she had seen a photo of her late mother as a teenager wearing a similar outfit, so she was adamant about wearing this on her first day of college.

She pumped her fists and glanced at the mirror one more time.

Watch out Brevard! Lucy Heartfilia is coming!