Ch.1

This story takes place 2 years after Natsu and Happy come back after their year of training. Lucy was not there at the time, but Natsu did find everyone from Fairy Tail and brought them back, except Lucy. After rebuilding the guild in Magnolia, they sent out search parties to look for Lucy, but she was nowhere to be found. Team Natsu refused to stop looking, but Master finally forbid them from looking, convinced Lucy would come back on her own. Jellal, Meredy, and Cobra were pardoned by the Magic Council for helping with the Eclipse Gate, as well as E.N.D and Zeref who are now gone. They now live in Lucy's old home, which Natsu refused to let go of.

It's been almost 2 years since Natsu came back to Hargeon to unite Fairy Tail again. The Guild was back and better than ever, as it was restored to it's former glory. Gray and Juvia had finally admitted their feelings for each other and were living together happily. Jellal and Erza were as close to dating as possible without being official. Evergreen and Elfman had married, as well as Lisanna and Bickslow and Mira and Freed. Cana and Bacchus were also together, much to Gildarts horror, and Gajeel and Levy were dating.

The Guild was packed when Natsu and Happy slammed the doors open. Sabertooth and members of Blue Pegasus had been staying here for a while, and sleeping either at Fairy Hills or at the guild. They came, because Sting had heard word of a Celestial Mage saving a small town near Hargeon from a small dark guild, but by the time they had arrived, there was no sign of her. Sting and Rogue had apparently tried to track her scent, but there had been a storm the night before, and it had completely vanished. They had searched the area for several days, but she was nowhere to be found. Natsu, Erza, and Gray had wanted to go out and search but Master had threatened them by almost banning them from missions.

Natsu sat down at the bar in Lucy's favorite spot, between Sting and Levy. Happy sat on the bar in front of Sting, immediately turning his attention to Frosch and Lector. Mirajane smiled widely at him after putting a plate overflowing with food in front of Sting. "Good Morning, Natsu!"

He smiled back. "Morning, Mira. Can I get my usual and a few fish for Happy?"

She nodded, moving back into the kitchen to start his food. HE looked around the guild for a while, taking everything in, and eavesdropping on several conversations with his heightened hearing. Kinana was moving back and forth, taking orders and bringing some back. She waved briefly at him, as Sting punched him in the shoulder. "Dragneel. What took you so long? You owe me a rematch from yesterday. I only lost because Titania knocked me out after you punched me into her cake."

Natsu snorted. "Bring it, firefly! I'm all fired up!"

He got up, ready to fight the light dragon slayer, but Mira slammed a plate of food down in front of him, and he quickly sat back down, forgetting the fight. Happy munched on his fish happily, and when Natsu was finished, he punched an unsuspecting Sting across the face, making him crash into Evergreen, who yelled that interrupting someone was not being a "MAN". This you can imagine, started a huge brawl that was beyond even Fairy Tail proportions, since Blue Pegasus and Sabertooth were quick to jump in.

Natsu immediately charged at Gray, who by now was completely naked. He punched him with his fire-lit fists, and he flew backwards, heading straight for Erza. When he landed on top of her, smashing her face into her strawberry cake, she shook with anger, pulling her sword and yelling about retribution for her precious cake, before jumping in and knocking out people by the handful. The brawl lasted for about twenty minutes, before Master stretched out a giant hand, and squished them all like bugs. "If you brats destroy this guild again, I'll punish all of you, including Sabertooth and Blue Pegasus."

Happy flew over to Natsu and helped him up, and he sat at their usual table, with Erza, Gray, Juvia, Jellal, Meredy, Sting, Rogue, Gajeel, Levy, and their exceeds. Natsu was mocking Gray when he heard Juvia turn her attention towards Happy. His head was down and it looked like he was about to start crying. Natsu was quick to turn to them.

Juvia patted Happy's head. "What's the matter, Happy?"

He looked up at Natsu, his eyes filling with tears. "I miss Lucy"

He had said it loud enough that not only did his table stop talking, but pretty much the entire guild had gone quiet. Natsu sighed, hugging Happy close to him. "I know, little buddy. It's not the same without her."

Happy sobbed. "I miss talking to her, and hearing her laugh… and teasing her… and sleeping in her bed… and hugging her…"

Levy cut him off. " I miss reading with Lu-chan and talking with her."

Gajeel grunted. "I miss making her mad."

"I miss going on missions with Lucy", Erza said.

"I miss fighting with Love Rival", Juvia said.

Soon everyone was saying what they missed about Lucy, and it was peaceful for a moment until Sting turned to Gajeel. "Wait a minute, didn't you torture Lucy?"

Gajeel's cheeks turned red. "That's in the past! Plus, Bunny girl already forgave me for that. At least I didn't torture her in front of an arena full of people."

Minerva choked on the her drink. " I-I've ch-changed. Hey, I heard that SOMEONE turned her to stone before they had even met properly."

Evergreen huffed. "I've apologized for that. I wasn't the one kidnapped her and turned her into a giant floating fish."

"I-I w-wasn't directly responsible f-for that. I just helped, plus Heartfilia's already forgiven me", Cobra stuttered, the tips of his pointed ears turning pink.

"I don't know why you guys are playing the blame game. Anything anyone's done to her has already been forgiven. Lucy isn't one to hold a grudge. She never has been. And if she was here she'd tell you to move on, because it was in the past", Natsu said as he played with the ends of his scarf.

Erza nodded. "Natsu's right. Lucy is the most forgiving person I've ever met. That's why she's called the Light of Fairy Tail."

Gray snorted. "It's also because she doesn't know when to quit. Lucy wouldn't run away from a fight even if she was on the verge of death."

Happy laughed. "NASTU! Remember when we were fighting that guy from the seven kin of purgatory? You were trapped under that boulder and you told Lucy to run?"

He smiled, but it wasn't happy. "Even as she was being tortured in front of me, she refused to run away."

Wendy smiled at Carla. "And when Lucy-chan thought she would be blown away by the Infinity clock she did it anyway to save all those people."

Cana set her drink down. "When Lucy does finally come home we have to throw a huge party. One with lots of alcohol."

"That sounds like a wonderful idea, Cana. And we have to invite the other guilds that have helped us look for her. Like Mermaid heel, and the others", Master said.

Levy frowned. "But where will Lu-chan stay since Jellal and Meredy and Cobra are at her house?"

Natsu snorted, setting his glass of fire whiskey down. "Obviously, she'll stay with Happy and me. We haven't been renovating it for no reason, right little buddy?"

"Aye Sir!"

After Happy had cheered up, and they had finished planning Lucy's welcome home party, Natsu and Happy headed home, only after Natsu made sure to get in one more fight with Sting and Gray. He lay in his hammock that night, next to the bed they had bought for when Lucy came back, thinking about her. It shouldn't have been this hard to find her. With every known Dragon Slayer hunting her they should have found her a long time ago. Which could only mean that she didn't want to be found.

As unbelievable as everybody thought it was, Natsu wasn't a complete idiot. He knew how important Lucy was to him and he knew that he was in love with her. He had been completely enamored with her from the moment they met, and the attraction had only gotten stronger over the years. He loved everything about her. He loved her beautiful golden hair, he loved her warm brown eyes, he loved her voluptuous body and her baby soft, pale skin. He loved when she laughed, and the look on her face when she read or was in deep concentration. He loved how she spoke and how she yelled and even how she cried, even though seeing her cry was the thing he hated most in the world. He loved how brave she was, and how she loves everyone she meets. He loves how strong she is, even though some would say otherwise. He knew her better than anyone, and he loved every small, insignificant detail of her.

That's why he couldn't stand the idea of knowing where she was, or what she was doing, or who she was with. Was she in danger? Was she training? Was she lost? How come she didn't try to contact them? Why was she deliberately hiding from them?

Natsu shook his head to clear the thoughts. That was something they could deliberate as a team. He didn't want to think about her in danger. He knew she could take care of herself, but it was in his nature to protect her.

He tossed and turned for a while, thinking about her, before he finally fell asleep. In the morning, he trained with Happy for a while in the woods by their house, before showering and heading for the guild. He was unsurprised to see that Sabertooth and Blue Pegasus members were still there, as he sat at a table with his team, as well as the other dragon slayers, including Laxus, Cobra, Sting and Rogue.

Natsu ate his breakfast with vigor, before trying to start a fight with Laxus. When he ended up on the floor, electrocuted, he turned to Gildarts, who punched him across the guild without even looking at him.

He sat up, rubbing his head, but cowered when he saw Erza towering over him with a sword over her head. He could only guess that he had accidentally hit her cake when he was punched. He squeezed his eyes shut, ready for death to come and take him, when a crash and the sound of glass breaking echoed through the now quiet guild.

He looked over towards the window to the left of him, and his breath caught. The window was completely destroyed, but it was the figure standing up slowly about five feet from it that made him stop.

Black combat boots, with black socks that went to mid-thigh with a gold Fairy Tail insignia encased long, toned legs that were covered in tiny scars. Tiny crowd pleaser denim shorts just covered their butt cheeks, and hugged their wide hips. The waistline was just under a pierced belly button that had a gold chain that wrapped around their toned abs. A black lace non-wired halter neck bralette covered their large chest and ended right under the ribs. Long, extremely thick blonde hair fell wildly to the tops of her thighs, though the left side of her face was completely covered, and the right side was half-cornrowed. Random sections of air were braided with feathers or beads, and it looked incredible. His eyes zeroed in on her back where it looked like there was a large branding of a dragon, and a growl rumbled in his chest at the thought of someone hurting her like that. Her left arm was covered in a tattoo that was made entirely of symbols in another language.

She was smiling, her plump pink lips pulled back into a smirk and a long sword was in her right had, the handle almost too big for her tiny fingers to completely wrap around. Her warm brown eyes were staring right at him, before turning her attention back to the window.

Lucy. That was Lucy. Lucy was here. She had looked right at him. She looked… Wow, she looked incredible, but his sharp eyes also noticed the thousands of tiny scars that littered her body, that he knew for a fact hadn't been there before.

He watched, unable to move, as a Vulcan threw itself at her, and she kicked it so hard, it twinkled in the sky as it flew across Magnolia. She sighed, sheathing her sword, before taking a deep breath and turning towards him again.

She smiled, crouching down in front of him. He didn't dare move, afraid this was a dream and that if he moved to touch her, she would disappear. She opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off as a blue streak he knew was Happy crashed into her chest, making her fall on her butt.

"LUCY! I'VE MISSED YOU SO MUCH!", he sobbed. She looked surprised for a moment, before rubbing his head.

"I'm Home, Happy", she said.

This seemed to break everyone out of their shock as Fairy Tail as a whole dog piled on top of them, screaming "LUCY".

Most members backed off for a moment, as she was attacked once again by her team members, everyone cringing when they heard her head bang painfully against Erza's armor when she pulled Lucy's head to her chest.

She finally turned towards Natsu, ignoring the rest of the guild. She smiled, her hand coming up and stroking his cheek, briefly, before moving to his hair and tugging lightly. They said nothing, and they didn't have to. Natsu's hand came up, and cupped her face, frowning when he felt the left side of her face, which was still covered. She closed her visible eye, as he gently moved her hair away from her face.

He heard the gasps from everyone else behind him, as his heart stopped. A long, thick red scar began at her hairline and went down through her left eye and the corner of her mouth to her chin. He breathed out slowly. "Lucy, open your eyes."

She sighed. "Natsu…"

"Luce, open your eyes."

His voice left no room for argument, and she took a deep breath, before doing as he said. He heard gasps again, but he was too busy trying to reign in his anger to pay any notice. Her right eye was a milky white, and it was clear that she was blind in that eye.

"Who did this to you?"

She smiled, covering his hands with hers. "Natsu… it doesn't matter."

"Luce, who did this to you?"

"It's okay. I'm okay."

Her eyes filled with tears as she looked up at him, only seeing him with one. "Natsu, you don't know how much I've missed you."

He stroked her cheekbones softly, touching her forehead with his. "Lucy, I've never missed anyone as much as I've missed you these past few years."

He took in her scent as her right cheek turned red, finding that she still smelled like strawberries and vanilla, but also now held a strong undertone of starlight. She looked up at him again, and her hands wrapped around his neck. They stared into each others eyes for a moment, before his eyes flicked down to her mouth. The left side was pulled down just a bit because of her scar, but other than that, they were as plump and perfect as ever, and Natsu couldn't help when his mouth came down on hers.

Her eyes closed after a moment of shock, and she kissed him back as the Guild erupted in cheers. They pulled back after minute, and Natsu laughed loudly, wrapping his arms tightly around her waist, lifting her off her feet. Her legs wrapped around his waist, and she laughed in his ear, the sound warming his heart.

They crashed to the ground, as their team dog piled on top of them, and Natsu could swear there was never a moment he was more happy.