Chapter One
Normal POV
It was another day in the Fairy Tail guild hall. However something was missing from the normally rambunctious guild. The members of Fairy Tail were sulking. Why, I'm not sure, but I would think it had to do with the absence of a certain blonde celestial mage. Lucy had gone on a solo mission about a month ago, and her guild mates had heard nothing from her. Many of them had wanted to go after her, but Lucy hadn't told anyone where she might be going. When the blonde told Mria that she would be taking a quest on her own, Mria had been worried. The mission had entailed the young blonde to track down a local trouble maker with blonde hair, brown eyes, and a colorful belt that he always wore. Mria was going to talk Lucy into taking Natsu and Happy with her the next day, but she was already gone.
When Natsu found out that Lucy was gone; he started getting really upset. At first the dragon slayer asked where she had gone, but Mria told him that the person she was hunting down liked to move, so the take-over mage couldn't tell Natsu where Lucy really was. Next he went to her apartment; trying to find clues as to where she would go. When he came up with nothing Natsu went to waiting for her return like the rest of the guild. Although, no one thought she would gone this long, and it was starting to worry everyone.
"Any word from Lucy?" Grey asked Natsu, who only shook his head. "If all she had to do was track him down, then what's taking her so long?"
"I don't know. But she should've brought me with her. She knows that I could've sniffed him out in no time flat." Natsu mumbled. The dragon slayer had his head resting on folded hands, Happy sitting next to him eating a fish.
"It does seem a bit odd that she wouldn't go without you Natsu. Or at least she would've said goodbye." Erza said. Natsu buried his head deeper into his hands at her words. Lucy's leaving had taken a toll on him; more than anyone else in the guild. "Mria are you sure there is no way to track her down?"
"No, I'm afraid not. And Lucy asked us not to follow her. For some reason she wanted to do this alone. Although, I'm starting to wish I hadn't let her go." Mria stated softly.
"It isn't like Lucy to just up and leave like that. And she surely wouldn't break off all contact with us. Maybe she's in trouble. Maybe she needs our help, but can't reach us. Maybe she's hurt or-" Wendy started, but Natsu cut her off.
"Don't say that. She's fine, she has to be. We just need to have a little more faith her." Natsu yelled at the young girl, scaring her and the others in the guild. They all knew how Natsu felt about Lucy, even if he would never say that out loud. But it was strange to see him acting like this, for he had never done it before.
"I'm sure she is Natsu, but even so, it's been a month. Lucy would never leave for this long without sending something telling us that she was ok." Happy said to Natsu, but you could see that even the normally chipper exceed was upset over Lucy's absence. Natsu looked back down at the table, knowing that Happy was right. However the young dragon slayer refused to think about Lucy being hurt or worse. However much Natsu cared about all of his guild mates, Lucy always seemed to hold a special place in his heart.
"She's fine. She probably just got busy in the middle of the woods and can't reach us yet. Yeah, that's it. She just hasn't been to town in a while. Or she forgot, because she's been so busy looking for this person." Natsu kept mumbling to himself other random reasons as to why Lucy wouldn't have checked in yet. Happy thought it would be better for his friend to go home at that point, and the guild agreed. After Natsu had left, Erza went to Mria.
"When is the master due to be back from his meeting with the council?" Erza asked the white haired bar maid. Mria shook her head, not knowing the answer to the scarlet haired mage's question. "Well, we might want to send word to him about Lucy. If she is gone any longer I think we should send out a search party to find her."
"Yes, I believe you're right. Although, I'm a little worried about Natsu. He seems to be more upset about this than he should be." Erza couldn't help but agree with Mria on that point. Natsu cared about everyone in the guild, but Lucy more so than all the others. There were many times when the others in the guild thought Natsu felt something more than friendship for the blonde. Yet when anyone asked him about it he would just say that Lucy was a good friend. Natsu didn't understand love, and what it implied that he spent almost every night at her house, and was always with her. He was too dense.
After that, the guild went on as normal. Well as normal as it could be without Natsu and Lucy. As the night started falling the guild members slowly started making their way home. All of them worried about their blonde friend, and some worried about what Natsu would do if she was in trouble.
Natsu's POV
I was lying in my bed, trying to sleep. Happy had long sense passed out on his bed, but every time I closed my eyes, I saw her. Her blond hair, her beautiful smile, her chocolate brown eyes. Everything about her, and then I watched it be torn away from me. It was about midnight, and I thought it would better for me to take a walk. As quietly as I could, I got out of bed, headed for the door and walked into the chilly night air.
I wondered the streets of Magnolia, not really knowing where I was going. Everything looked different at night, even the guild. I was so used to seeing the lights on and hearing the yelling from inside. But in the dead of night it was silent, just like everything else around it. All of the other inhabitance of the town where sleeping soundly in their beds. Whist I was wishing that I could.
Ever sense Lucy left there's been this emptiness in my life. Like some part of me was missing. Most nights I would cuddle something trying to picture it as her. Whenever the guild doors opened I expected to see her walking through them, waving and smiling like always. But she never did come. It had been a whole month, and I was losing my mind without Lucy. I missed her, the way she smiled, the way she talked, the way her eyes would sparkle when she talked about a book with Levy. I even missed her kicking Happy and me out of her bed every morning.
So when I found myself in front of her apartment building, it made sense that I would end up here. The lights were off of course, and when I jumped up to her window I was hoping that she would be there. Lying in her bed, curled up under the covers, sleeping peacefully. But she wasn't there. I sighed knowing deep down that she wouldn't have been there, but I could still feel the jab of sadness in my heart.
I thought about going back home and trying to sleep, but then I realized that I was home sitting on her window sill. So, I opened the window (which was unlocked for some reason) and crawled under the covers of her bed. It smelled like her. Like strawberries and vanilla. I placed my head on the pillow, closing my eyes picturing Lucy lying there next to me. I thought about her soft breathing, the way she would snuggle up to me (even if she would never admit to it). I took a deep breath, letting her sent relax me. But what I would never say out loud was how I cried myself to sleep that night, trying not to think about how Lucy might never be coming back.
Normal POV
It was another day at the Fairy Tail guild hall, and again everyone was sulking. Lucy hadn't come back and Natsu was nowhere to be found. Happy had come to the guild early in the morning looking for his pink haired friend. With Lucy gone, the rest of the guild didn't know what to do without their favorite dragon slayer. Mria took a look around the guild and wished that one of them would come in. Or both Natsu and Lucy. Natsu with his arm slung around her shoulders smiling, Lucy blushing wildly. It was only few minutes later when Natsu finally arrived at the guild.
To say the least, Natsu looked like crap. His hair was more messed up than usual, his eyes red and puffy from crying, and he looked like he hadn't slept at all the night prior. The dragon slayer stumbled his way over to the bar.
"Fire whisky please?" Natsu asked Mria, his voice soft. It broke Mria's heart to see him like this, so out of character, so depressed. The white haired bar maid poured him his drink; hoping that Lucy would come back soon. It was Grey who came over first. He patted Natsu on the back; who didn't push him away. In fact it almost looked like Natsu wanted Grey to be there. Mria watched Natsu with cation, not really knowing what could happen. Grey honestly was waiting for Natsu to explode, although the young mage didn't have the energy.
"Yo Natsu. What's on your mind?" Grey asked, hoping that he didn't get punched in the face.
"Shut up and leave me alone Grey. I don't want to talk to you, so just go away." Natsu mumbled, although there was a menacing undertone in his voice.
"Look man, I know that this thing with Lucy has got you all worked up; but you got to stop worrying. She's going to be fine and back at the guild before you know it."
"How do you know that?" Natsu growled at the other boy, thinking he knew more than he let on. Grey cleared his throat and moved to another chair, farther away from the depressed teen.
"I don't, I'm just hoping. And still believing that she's coming back. So cheer up, man. Lucy can take care of herself; she'll be fine. Ok?" Grey asked form his chair a few feet away. The small nod that he got from Natsu made Grey think that he would be ok for now.
Natsu's POV
After hearing what Grey had to say, I might have felt a little better about this. I would never say that out loud of course. But a month without Lucy was really messing me up. I refused to believe that she was anything else but ok. I loved Lucy so much, and not knowing if she was ok scared the crap out of me. What Grey had to say gave me a little hope, something to hang onto. But I still felt like crap.
I hadn't slept very well last night, and I missed Lucy. I wanted to go look for her so badly; yet I couldn't help but feel that it would be a lost cause. By the time I caught up with her, she could very well be back at the guild. I took a sip of my drink, hoping that the burning liquid would help me forget about this whole thing for a while.
So when the doors opened I didn't look at them. I was too busy drinking away my sorrow. But when the guild went quiet, I had to turn and looking thinking it was the master back from his meeting. But the person standing at the door was a much more welcome sight.
Normal POV
Natsu ran up the young blonde; crushing her with his arms. Lucy was knocked off balance by Natsu's bear hug. After the initial shock wore off Lucy hugged him trying to get as close as possible. That month without being able to see or talk to Natsu had taken its toll on Lucy too. She consistently thought about the pink haired dragon slayer, but knew that she wouldn't be able to contact him while still on the job she had taken. Which she only took for one reason and honestly didn't want to go; although knew that the person of interest would've gotten himself killed if she hadn't come along.
"Don't ever do that again Luce. You scared me half to death." Natsu whispered in her ear. She smiled at his words, hugged him back, and rested her head in the crook of his neck.
"I'm sorry Natsu. I didn't think it take this long." Lucy looked up at Natsu, and smiled. "He said that it wasn't safe for us to make outside calls, so I couldn't tell you guys that I was ok. I'm really sorry about that." The others at the guild had come up to Lucy at this point. Natsu's eyes narrowed (although he kept his arms around her) at her words and Erza came up to her, with her best scary face on.
"Who is he, Lucy? Did this he do anything to you? Are you ok?" Erza bombarded the young mage with questions. Lucy blinked a couple of times before laughing.
"Oh, it's nothing like that. The job that I went on entitled that I find a young man who had been causing trouble around town. It didn't take me long to find the guy, but the reason why the requester wanted to find him was to kill him. As soon as I found out I took him away and saved his life. I thought that I could bring him back here until he got his life back together. Although he insisted that we walk and said that I couldn't contact anyone. It wouldn't have been safe, and those bandits were looking for both us at that point. So honestly I was just following good advice. Nothing horrible. I'm fine really. Other than being a pain in my ass sometimes, Justin really is a great guy." Lucy looked up at Natsu, realizing that he was holding onto her tightly. He really must've been worried about me. How cute.
"You said you brought him here? So where is he?" Grey asked. The ice make mage had a defensive tone in his voice. Lucy's smile faded as soon as she realized that her new friend wasn't standing next to her anymore. She turned in Natsu's arms, trying to find him. Finally she spotted the person she was looking for. He was about Natsu's height, with Lucy's blonde hair, and light brown eyes that were half closed. He wore a nice pair of dark blue jeans, a red dress shirt, a light grey vest, and a rainbow colored belt. He was a rather handsome man, about nineteen years old. However he didn't seem very happy to be at the guild, seeing as how he was hunched over, with his hands in his pockets, and hair in his eyes. Lucy sighed, and escaped from Natsu's grasp to go talk to the boy.
Lucy walked over to him and started talking to him, although with little success. The blonde man mumbled something under his breath causing Lucy to hit him over the head. He flinched and said something about her being too abusive from him to go in with her. Lucy smiled softly at the boy, but then her expression changed into one of annoyance. The other members of her guild knew that look all too well, and so did this strange man. He jumped back hands in the air, shaking his head violently. Lucy nodded in approval, while pushing him toward the guild. He slouched over once again only looking up long enough to get a quick glance around the guild.
"So… this is Fairy Tail huh? I thought it would be bigger." He sounded bored, voice dull. Lucy hit him over the head again. "Ow, jeez Stars. What was that for?" She hit him again, glaring one of her death glares.
"Be nice Justin. These are my friends. And don't call me Stars!" Once again Lucy hit him, although not as hard as the other times.
"Listen Stars, you said you would bring me to your guild to keep me safe for a couple days, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. Or be nice. Plus this is me being nice." Justin snapped at her, getting another punch this one in the gut. "Ok yeah, I get it." Justin wheezed.
"Good." Lucy nodded. "Now everyone this is Justin He-" Lucy started but cut herself off, looking over at Justin, as if asking him a question.
"Heart, Justin Heart. Nice to you meet all of you, but this is a giant misunderstanding. Lucy here was nice enough to take me under her wing when I needed it, but she didn't need to take me all the way to her guild. I'm sorry you had to deal with this, so I'll be leaving now and not coming back. Thanks again Stars." Justin waved and started to walk off, but Lucy grabbed him by his shirt collar and dragged him back into the guild.
"Come on Justin, this could do you some good. Joining a guild." Justin stopped struggling at her words, sniffing the air. Lucy let go of him smirking to herself. She had a knowing look in her eyes, which quickly changed to shock as she saw where he was heading.
"One hundred year old, purest of pure, grade A, white fire whisky." Justin picked up the bottle of Natsu's favorite drink from behind the bar, and took a sniff. "Yeah that's the stuff. Man I haven't seen anything of this vintage like ever. Where the hell did you find this?" Justin turned to Lucy; who shook her head and pointed at Mria.
"Oh, it was at a convention I went to a couple years ago. When I saw it, I thought of Natsu here, our fire dragon slayer. It sounded like something he might like. It was rather pricy, but I think it worth it." Mria smiled as Justin whistled. The blonde looked over at Natsu and back at the bottle.
"Two glasses and a half his about how much of this has been drunk, and you aren't dead yet? Damn Lucy said you guys were strong but I never would've thought that strong." Natsu smirked at Justin's comment.
"Never underestimate a member of Fairy Tail." Natsu told Justin, arms crossed over his chest, smile on his face.
"Well, I can now officially say that I'm impressed. But it is a shame that I will never be able to have a swig of this beauty myself. Ah well." Justin sighed. Lucy laughed at his antics, and Natsu looked between the two. Although Lucy said they had just met a month ago, it seemed to the dragon slayer that they had known each other longer.
"And why is that?" Cana asked, as she took her flask and started chugging.
"Justin's a drunk." Lucy said simply.
"Was a drunk, was. And trust me its better now that I'm not. Although this is making it really tempting." He looked at the bottle once again. "But falling off the wagon after two years isn't cool, and it's more fun to complain about it. Don't you think?" Justin looked at Cana smirking, the woman smiling back.
"Alright Justin, put the bottle down, before you have a relapse." Lucy smiled at him, although her tone was serious. Justin sighed, shaking his head before putting the bottle back down where he found it. Once again he sighed while taking one last glace at the bottle of fine whiskey. Lucy laughed at him as he sat on one of the barstools looking at some of the other selections that the Fairy Tail bar had to offer.
"Well seems like you know what you're doing, Justin. Why don't you come work here at the bar while joining the guild? I'm sure you'll be great." Mira asked.
"Sure I don't see why not. As long as I don't have to stay. I don't really want to cause trouble." Justin shrugged. Lucy lightly tapped in on the shoulder while glaring at her friend.
"The whole reason why I brought you here was so that you didn't cause trouble Just. I tracked you down, and had to run from thugs, thieves and dark mages in a forest, not being to tell my friends that I was ok and coming home safe. I think you own me to stay for a little while. You'll grow to love it here, I'm sure." Lucy smiled her brightest smile at him. Justin looked up at her, unable to keep the small smile from spreading to his face as well.
"Gosh Lucy, you didn't have to guilt trip me or anything like that. All you had to do was smile, and you've got me wrapped around your finger." His smiled grew into a flirty one. Practically every girl in the guild swooned over the sight. All of them wishing that his smile was directed towards them. But what they didn't notice was the menacing glare a certain pink haired Dragon Slayer was sending the blonde male's way.