AN: My first fanfiction! I'm hoping I won't lose interest in this fanfiction and continue it, which I'm planning to since this will be a fairly long series! Thanks, enjoy!

Windows Shut

She looked out the slightly open window. Glowing in the starry night sky, the moon stood motionlessly, making its presence among the river's waters as a reflection. Her gaze shifted. The water rippled; the tides were moderate and subtle, not violent.

"Lucy," The familiar voice of her spirit startled the blonde. She slowly turned and glanced at the messy-haired man. His hair was wild, a beautiful shade of tangerine and looked like it had been run through many times. The suit he stood in was in perfect condition as always, tailored to his own measurements. And of course, there wasn't one day where he forgot his signature blue shades. Still remaining mute, she looked back and studied his face. His shades covered his eyes, which had slight bags under. However, the girl was unable to read his expression.

"Yes, Loke?" She whispered, averting her soft chocolate-brown eyes to the floor.

He could not figure out what she was feeling. However, when he looked to watch her expressions, he began to contemplate. The girl made an effort to avoid his eyes, although he could tell that she was lost, broken, and fragile. "Are you sure you want to leave?" Loke inquired.

Finally, the girl looked up to meet his eyes. His heart broke. Her disheartened face began to stain his memories—this moment would scar him for sure, his whole life. He could not bear to see, feel, the emotions of his suffering master; he could not comprehend how much pain she was in, despite her emotions overwhelming his own.

"There is no reason for me to stay anymore," Her medium golden locks remained stagnant against her chest. And then, she began to stretch her features into a strained smile. He couldn't take it anymore. The lionlike man knew she was trying to stay positive, despite her abiding pain. Her smile was so broken, so shattering it nearly killed him just to gaze at her angelic features. His princess was like a ragged doll. "Loke," The blonde breathed out. "Can we leave right now?"

It took him a while to reply. He had to process her words. "Of course, Princess."

Loke stood with his arms outstretched. The golden-haired girl stepped to meet his warm body. She settled close to his warmth, attempting to feel as much warmth from him as possible, as she currently wore a light nightgown. Loke gently enclosed his arms around her, enveloping her body with great care and security.

A golden light gradually surrounded the two. Within a flash, a scene between a master and a spirit disappeared, leaving the remains of the surreal landscape of her empty apartment on Strawberry Street, her window locked.

~•-•~

The next morning, the sun blazed more than a million rays and showed the people's silhouette, a work of art. It was scorching hot, yet a certain team didn't let the weather stop their whereabouts. They were heading towards the guild. The greatest, most powerful guild in Fiore, Fairy Tail!

Each of them felt as if Fairy Tail was a part of them. It was an unreplaceable part of their souls that they could barely manage without it. Their family was Fairy Tail and everyone in it. The team stood before the grand guild entrance. Pride and spirit filled their esteems as they proudly walked through those doors. The salmon-haired, scarlet-haired, and blackish dark-blue trio made their presence known.

"We're back, guys!" Natsu announced to his guildmates, whose voice was only above the other conversations going on. He walked over to Happy, who currently attempted to hold a conversation with Carla. "Hey Happy!"

Happy turned his attention to Natsu. Taking her chance, Carla walked away from the blue Exceed to her owner. Happy cried, "Natsu! You're back!" He launched himself towards Natsu's face, who gladly accepted his embrace.

"It's great to be back," The salmon-haired fire mage commented. He smiled at his Exceed. He was only gone for a month and the guild had already seemed different. He analyzed, using his senses to seek out what changed in the guild. Juvia was stalking Gray, Erza was eating her strawberry cake, Gajeel was flirting with Levy—Jet and Droy close behind her; the Raijinshu were in their own little world, while the barmaid was waiting on tables. All his guildmates seemed to be normal, enjoying themselves. It finally hit him. "Happy—"

Erza and Gray walked towards the fire dragonslayer. "Hey! Flamebrain!"

"What do you want stripper? Put on some pants!" Natsu retorted, obviously annoyed. "I was just about to ask Happy something and you made me forgot!" The fire mage raised his hand and began a spark, threatening to throw the flame at the ice mage, who seemed to be unfazed by the action.

"Natsu, put your flame out. Continue what you were going to ask Happy," Erza remarked, in a tone of high superiority.

"How could I resume talking to Hap-" Natsu, being unable to finish sounding his complaint, struck with fear as Erza glared at him. He gulped. "Aye!" Thanking his memory for himself suddenly remembering what he was going to ask Happy, "Happy, have you seen Luce?"

As soon as he voiced the question, the guild became quiet. Bewildered, Natsu, Gray, and Erza looked around at the sudden silence. The creaks of the floorboards and walls were easily able to be heard. The trio looked at their surrounding guildmates, who were stunned motionless. Given a few moments, their family erected an aura of depressive gloom.

Happy, being asked the question, frowned. His head faced towards the direction of the floor, staring madly at it. Whiskers furrowed, he struggled not to make a tear slip down his furry features. "N-N-Natsu…" Happy whined. The blue cat's voice was barely audible.

"Happy? Just tell me!" The salmon-haired dragonslayer exclaimed. It was obvious that Natsu didn't understand the atmosphere. He truly wondered where the vanilla-strawberry scented girl went. She was his nakama, teammate, partner, friend, best friend. Her presence made such an impact on the guild, the guild would always feel different when she was absent. No—even if his other nakama were absent, there would be an obvious distinction that had an effect on the guild. However, when Natsu actually thought about it, Lucy wasn't just nakama to him, she was closer than him than he thought. It troubled him, her absence.

Natsu raised his eyebrow; again he looked at his other guildmates in the hall. "Well?"

The ice mage had enough of the silent responses. "Where'd Lucy go? Did she come today at all?" He wondered if she was sick at home again. Gray remembered the last time she was ill and wasn't able to arrive to the guild. He reminisced about his blonde nakama, who stayed in bed, too ill to see the Cherry Blossom Festival. It only made him smile a bit when the memory of Natsu carrying a giant cherry blossom tree to her apartment. Gray immediately rid his face of any emotion.

The guild still remained silent. Erza finally broke from her bewildered silence, "I will return soon." She removed herself from the bench of the table, leaving her half-eaten strawberry cake in the distance as she walked off. Clack clack clack! Her metal armor clinked each step she took.

Natsu and Gray followed her figure with their eyes as she made her exit. After a few seconds of blank staring at the distant silhouette, which appeared getting smaller and smaller, the two quickly scrambled to find their coordination.

The guild observed the team withdraw from the guild hall.

"Master.." Mirajane voiced faintly.

"Leave it," Makarov affirmed. "Let those brats discover for themselves." His concern for his children was more than he showed. The wrinkles on his aged face creased with more lines, deeply etched with worry and dismay. Their reactions for their precious nakama caused further issues to unsettle him. He prayed for time to let him be at peace someday.

~•-•~

Natsu and Gray easily knew where Erza was headed. They easily caught up to her, after all, she didn't get that far after she left the guild.

Lucy's apartment wasn't a great distance from the Fairy Tail building. Once the team reached the front entrance of her apartment, they found it appearing to look unoccupied. The fire mage voiced all their pondering thughts, "Where's Lucy?..." Before he allowed Erza and Gray to react, he proceeded to climb up the wall outside of the celestial mage's apartment.

Gray and Erza watched Natsu in disapproval. The two Fairy Tail mages knew that they weren't any better, occasionally knocking down Lucy's door to let their own selves in. "Guys! Her window is closed!" Gray and Erza raised their eyebrows.

Natsu was disappointed. His worry further deepened as he realized that the celestial mage's apartment window was locked. He knew that she kept it open just a peek for a reason, as soon as she got used to the fact that he snuck in her room at times just for fun. Natsu easily fathomed that the blonde didn't quite easily show her real emotions to the people around her, but she was like an open book.

When he reached for her window several times to pound on it, there was no response. He became frustrated, pounding more and more. More and more and more. He knew that this was unreasonable, since maybe she was probably taking a nap or something, but the worry was making him on edge. The dragonslayer put more power into his knocks; hell, his hands began to bruise, bloody and purple. He yelled. "LUCY! LUCY!" He tried to pummel his way through the window. "GODDAMIT, WHAT IS THIS WINDOW MADE OUT OF?" His pounding became faster, louder, desperate. He couldn't help it. He wasn't losing any stamina, he handled worst before.

"Damn Natsu. Will you just give it a break? She's probably out on a job or something." Gray retorted. He had an intense friendship with the blonde as well, and could understand Natsu's anguish. However, he decided in not joining Natsu's wreck.

Finally, Natsu's knocks started to slow, getting sloppier. He knew he wasn't one to give up. He always had faith in his nakama. Except, there was only so much hope one could harbor for something, for someone. BANG!...BANG!...BANG!... Natsu collided both his fists against the window, his head slammed into the strong alloy of a glass. His fists slid down the window, as if admitting defeat. He sank to his knees, and held his head in his injured hands. No one saw, but one drop of salty liquid slid down the corner of his eye.

~•-•~

Gray and Erza watched the calamity of their guildmate.

"What is all this racket!" A large middle-aged purpled-haired woman stamped out of the building.

"Would you happen to be Lucy Heartfilia's landlord?" Erza asked courteously.

"Of course! Who else would I be?" The woman wore clothes three sizes too small. "What are you doing outside this building?" Of course she knew who they were. After all, they were Fairy Tail mages, known for their destruction among Fiore. Additionally, they visited Lucy more than often.

"Do you know of her whereabouts?" Erza implied.

"Well, I thought you guys knew! She left a month ago! You, put on some clothes."

A/N: That's a wrap! OMG I'm so excited that I actually did this! I'm excited to start this series because this storyline is getting me jittery. Once it's summer I'll probably have more time to update. Thanks for reading this first chapter! I started getting a little disinterested in the middle of the chapter so….reviews are welcome!