"It has been a year since he left, I can barely remember the way he smelt as he pulled me into his embrase, the way he warmed my cold bed on winter nights and the way he use to pull me along on missions I would have never seen myself doing." A warm sensation fell over the blonde mages body as she dipped her sore, scratched skin into the herbal water of her porciline bathtub. Watching the steam rise above her face she sighed before wincing in pain.
"Ever since he left I have had to continue doing missions with Erza and Gray." Lucy whined as she slowly dropped into the hot water. The feeling of relief befell her body as the rush of hot water pushed against the open wounds on her skin. She looked down at the wounds on her arms and legs before laying her head back with an annoyed sigh.
"Gray just strips all the time and throws ice everywhere. And Erza... She's just... Erza..." She looked up to the bare roof above her as a small smirk cracked through her tough facial expression.
"Natsu wasn't any better, he just ran in pushing everyone out of the way. Just so he can burn the bad guy into a crisp, sometimes he would burn me along with them but... He would always be the one saving me in the end..." Her eyes began to well up with crystal clear tears slowly they were followed by a light blush creeping onto her cheeks before she burst into laughter at the thought of the previous adventures she had with her friends.
"But I don't think I would have had it anyother way!" She smiled as she dipped her face into the water, a small splash of water fell from the tub as she rose from the water once again. Pushing the water and hair from her eyes.
A stange presence overfell Lucy's body as she slowly pulled herself from the red stained bathwater. "Damn it, I forgot to grab my clothes..." She sighed from exaustion as she pulled her towel from the rack. The feeling of someone lurking in the shadows became more powerfull as she covered herself with a soft fluffy pink towel before leaving the bathroom.
Without looking around her appartment she made her way straight to her dresser. She yanked on the dresser draw attempting to get it to open. "Not again." She whined as she pulled harder, shaking the dresser along with it. As the draw suddenly popped open she fell onto the book case holding many things from her past. Books she had read repetadly mixed with her own completed books, letters to her mother she had written and never sent, rolled up paintings of her with her friends in their beloved guild.
As she hit the wooded bookcase a small metal box tumbled to her feet. Before she could notice the box she had a hand full of clothes and made her way to the bathroom. A few seconds passed and she made her way into the room fully clothed for bed.
"When he comes back I should tell him I can summon four spirits at the same time... That's if he comes back..." Lucy sighed as she foot slightly missed the metal corner of the box sitting in front of the bookcase. She shoved her draw back into the dresser before turning back to the inviting bed beside the window of her appartment. She winced in extreme pain as her heel came into contact with the sharp metallic corner of the box on her floor.
She screamed out in pain before dropping to the ground cradling her hurt foot while squating in front of the object that brutally attacked her. "What the?" She questioned forgetting the pain in her foot, she grabbed the metal from the floor and took it to her bed before looking it over.
"What is this?" She said to herself looking at how she could open it. A small huff escaped her lips as she began to open the seemingly strange box.
"I wonder why it is here?" She said as she peered into the red velvet centre of the box. A single letter sat in the bottom of the box, lightly placed on the fabric.
"Strange, I don't remember..." She began as she pulled the letter from the box before placing the box onto the pink sheets on her bed. Her heart stopped as she stared at the broken red seal on the envolope. A small 'N' was engraved into the red wax.
"Putting that... Here..." She said as a small hint of sadness over came her body. She pulled the letter from the envolope carfully as small tears began to form in her clouded emerald eyes. Her limbs became heavy as her eyes became emenced in pain as they followed the page of barely redable words before dropping her body into a cradled position on her blanket.
"Idiot you said you would be back and yet you aren't here... Why aren't you here? I'm lonely!" She cried cradeling the letter in her arm as the other free hand was covering the top half of her face.
The warm light of the sun rising beamed through the open window of the blonde mages appartment. Her eyes were slightly red and inflamed from crying herself to sleep. Her morning was slow and what was normal to her now, she walked through the streets without a young pink haired mage with her. As she made her way to the guild she eventualy forgot what she was moping about and became her normal cheerful self.
"I wonder if Mira will let me go on a mission by myself for a change." Lucy mumbled to herself as she passed through the doors of fairytail, she dodged flying chairs and tables only to come to Wendy and Carla sitting at the bar talking with Mira. Lucy smiled and skipped up to the spare chair beside Wendy.
"Morning Lucy." Wendy said smiling cheefully up at the older mage. Lucy smiled down at her.
"Morning Wendy, how was your first solo mission?" Lucy said as Mira placed a fresh glass of water in front of the blonde spirit 's face turned sour at the mention of her mission.
"For some reason it turned out to be a group mission..." She replied with a slight hint of regret.
Lucy laughed as she looked back down at the blue haired mage after sipping from the glass Mira had given her. "Oh really who went?" Lucy asked.
Wendy's expression was as if she had seen something she was unable to unsee. Before long Carla spoke up. "Canna and Lisanna..." Were the ones that came to help out. Carla had become more protective of Wendy after the last events during the Tartourus event.
With a perfect posture Carla contnued to walk along the bar towards Lucy. "Those two are as bad as Ezra, Gray and Nat..." Suddenly she stopped befoer she could complete her sentance. She covered her mouth with her tiny white paw before walking back to her original place, on the other side of Wendy. A silent air passed over the small group of wemon before Lucy got up from her seat.
"Well I better go see if there are any solo missons I can go on." Lucy laughed before waving goodbye to her friends. Before long the young blonde waved godbye to everyone in the guild as she left for some quiet time to herself to read.
Gray looked at Ezra with a worried expression. "I bet ya she going to 'there' again." Gray sighed with a hint of pitty. Erza nodded and looked down at her half eaten strawberry cake before taking one more bite from her fork.
"Just leave her be, she needs time to herself to think about the masters request." Erza said as she began to eat the rest of her cake. Gray sighed once more before lowering his head in pity.
Gajeel, who was normally selfishly cheerful, was sitting in the darkest corner of the guild hall chewing on small scraps of metal. Levy sat beside him with a worried look. "What is wrong with Lu-chan?" She asked the metal dragon slayer. He chomped down on the last piece of metal in his hand.
"The master gave her a choice, she can leave the guild and keep her memories or she can stay in the guild and become an S class wizard and do solotairy missions far from Magnolia." Gajeel mumbled as he gave Levy his normal glare.
"Why is she thinking about it than, shouldn't she be jumping at the opritunity to become S class?" Levy beamed as she imagined Lucy as a strong S class wizard battling monsters and bringing home massive rewards like Erza.
"There was a catch with becoming an S class wizard. The master said she won't be able to show her true strength if she is still remonising in the past. He said that if she choses to become an S class wizard than she will have to have Natsu and Happy erased from her memories completely... So the Bunny girl is upset and can't decide between him and the guild."
Levy's bright smile turned sour as she reminded herself of the times she watched Lucy and Natsu interact. The happy smile plastered on the blonde's face even though he annoyed her to the level of kicking him. The script mage giggled to herself before remembering the way her blonde haired friend is now.
"Shouldn't someone go talk to her about it?" She asked as a loud thumping came from the guilds front door.
Lucy sat beneath the blooming shakura tree that sat reburied in the park. Her knee's close to her chest as she thought deeply to herself about the recent events she had with the master. She leaned her head back onto the large trunk of the tree.
The bark scraped against her blonde hair. "Leave the guild or stay?" she asked herself repedatly before letting out a loud sigh. Small twigs from the branches above her began to fall as if someone was sitting in the tree. Her emerald eyes looked up at blossiming tree scanning the branches forany sign for life before she stood to her feet. A shiver crawled down her spin as she dusted off her normal mini skirt of any dust.
"Hello?" She said looking around the dimly lite area, hoping to see someone passing by. Her eyes became filled with fear, finally noticing that she was the only person in the vacinity. She laughed nervously at her remark before walking in the direction of her appartment.
"What a stupid thing to say. What is the person going to say 'Oh hi, I'm just sitting in the tree. Don't mind me watching you.' Pathetic... Still this place is giving me the creeps." She said to herself as her legs moved in a faster rythem. She continued to get the strange feeling of someone following her before she slammed the door shut to her appartment. Letting out a exusted sigh she panted as she turned the bath water on.
"That was weird." She said after a few minutes of waiting for the tub to fill. After letting herself soak all of her worries away she dressed herself for bed, brushed her hair and teeth before climbing into her bed. She frowned in confusion as the darkness stole her vision. She felt a strange warmth come from the window side of her double bed. She slid closer to the strange warmth in her bed before touching bare skin. Her scream filled the room followed by a loud thud.
Erza looked at the guild halls door, standing to her feet whilst chewing on the last piece of her strawberry cake. The hall went silent as the thumping continued on the locked door. The requipt mage made her way to the door without any fear, only confusion of who would knock on the guilds door this late at night.
Her footsteps became more careful and light as she grew closer to the wooden doors. She requiped her bare hand into her normal sword. She held it strongly in her hand while the other was resting on the doors handle. The other guild members waited anxiously as she pulled the door open. A small blue blur came speeding into the room hitting the back wall before tumbling into an empty barrel of Canna's alcohol.
"What the?" Gray questioned as he stood from his seat following Erza up to the bar. A small moan came from the dark barrel, Mira placed the last clean glass onto the shelf under the bar before she reached into the barrel.
She yanked up the small blue creature from the barrel, her grip was over taken by her surprise making her drop the small creature onto the wooden floor in front of her. The bar maid covered her mouth in shock before realising the dirty, worn out tea towel she was cleaning with was on her lips.
"Hey E... Erza isn't that.. Uhh..." Gray stumbled for the right words to speak, Erza stood shocked trying to grasp the reality of the situation in front of her. The small blue creature flew to eye level for all in the guild to see.
"H... Happy?" Erza questioned looking at the small blue creature floating in front of her. A large bright cheeky smile grew on his face before he raised one of his paws to his forehead as if he was soluting.
"Aye!" He replied, the entire guild ran over to the flying blue cat. Happy to see he was alive and well, however Ezra stood staring at the blue cat with a worried yet angered frown.
"Happy... Where is Natsu?" The entire guild went silent as the S class mage spoke. Happy smiled and set himself on the bar before his wings vanished into thin air.
"He went to do something personal, I would tell you but he didn't tell me where or what he was doing. So he probably went back to the house to see if it was still standing." Happy smiled before noticing Carla standing with her mouth open in surprise.
Large tears welled up in the blue cats eyes before he darted across the bar to meet with an unfriendly white feline. Hugging her into a tight embrass he cried into her shoulder. Carla patted his back while attempting to pry his body from hers. "Ok tom cat, that is enough. Now where have you been!" She yelled finally getting free from his embrass, the two cats were soon joined by Lily and the rest of the guild. Happy explained all of the adventures he went on with Natsu while they were gone for more than a year and a half.
Ezra stood quietly only noticed by the ice mage sitting back into his chair. "What's the matter?" he said looking at the red head. She shook her head and pressed her hand to her chin in deep thought.
"I think I know where Natsu might be..." She murmered towards Gray. The young ice mage took a few seconds for her words to sink in before he nodded and smiled.
"He should be careful though..." He said taking a small sip from the ice cold water in front of him. Erza nodded at his remark.