Distance

by CladinGrey97

This takes place after the 'Tartaros Arc - Final Chapter'. Where one year has progressed into three and Lucy is left in Fiore trying to come to terms with a future permanently without Fairy Tail. When Natsu and Happy finally appear, forgiving them for leaving isn't possible and she's faced with the cruel job of informing them of the guilds disbandment. Natsu x Lucy

1. Winter

"Bye Lucy"

My body jolts awake beneath the sheets. The cool morning air causing my skin to prickle with the all-to-familiar chill of winter.

I listen again for the thrum of two extra heartbeats and eventually draw in a shaky breath upon the answering silence. He isn't here I remind myself. Neither of them is.

A letter. A letter barring scars of its own in barely decipherable scribble. Left behind by hands scorched in brilliant flame. That letter was the only scrap of evidence I could use to reassure myself that our happy days weren't gone for good.

"I'm going off on a journey to train with Happy. I'll be back after about a year.

Give everyone else the heads up okay? See ya' on the flip side Lucy!"

- Natsu and Happy

My voice trembles with the word as it escapes. "Natsu". And with it a treacherous tear slips down my cheek but before more can join it, my eyes flutter open.

Nothing. At first that is all I can see. "A deep void of emptiness" I use to describe my room in that moment, the writer in me settling happily into the far reaches of my mind. Alas, a dull ache paws at my heart desperately as it seeks out a single shred of warmth in the room but comes back empty handed.

Slowly my eyes begin to adjust to the dim morning light peering through the window. Hoping to find a pair of unwelcome shadows below the glass, I lean forward on the mattress and skim the street. Again nothing. And with that I force my eyes shut, begging for even a glimpse of the pink haired boy and his blue winged feline.

….