"Bye now, I'll be heading home," Lucy said to her team that was currently talking to their childhood friend. Too immersed recalling their old memories together, none of them looked up when she called. Only cute little Happy waved goodbye but before Lucy can wave back, he looked away and continued listening to his 'mom' and 'dad' stories while butting in sometimes. Lucy shiny brown eyes dimmed a bit when she glanced at her team. 'Or ex-team' her conscience said.

'No!' Lucy shake her head mentally. She calmed herself and added

'They'll be back to normally in a week or so,'

'You said that 2 months ago,' her conscience butted in.

'They'll be okay. They are simply just too happy to be having Lisanna back,'

'Suit yourself,'

After winning her battle with her inner self, Lucy decide to go but when she turned around her eyes lingered a moment to the faces of her nakama and stopped for a while at Lisanna's seat. Next to Natsu's and right in the middle of their little group. That was her seat. She was the one who supposed to be sitting there. But maybe that is what Lisanna think too. Maybe she thought that the seat was hers so it is normal for her to seat there. Maybe she thought that the team was hers and she was simply fighting her way back in.

Her train of thoughts trailed of as her gaze fell on Natsu. He was talking rather loudly while his hands were doing some wild gesture of something. She chuckled softly at his attic. Slowly, with heavy steps she walked away. With every step she took, she clenched her shirt tighter and tighter.

It hurts being ignored….

It hurts being invisible….

Most of all, it hurts being left forgotten.

But it's okay, as long as she can hear their voices and feels their warmness…

It's… Okay…

But why? Why does it hurt so much?

It felt like Erza stabbed her with a thousand of her beautifully dancing swords…

Like Gray crushed her to pieces while she was in his magnificent crystal, cold ice…

Like Happy dropped her during their flight from a height she could not even dreamed to survive…

But she knew none of that will hurts as much as being burn by Natsu's blazing flame until what left of her were only ashes.

Tears trailed down her cheek to her chin and dripped away from her face and finally disappeared into her blouse. She roughly wiped the remaining tears away with her collar, stopping only after the evidence of her crying was all gone.

She continued to walk towards the guild door but stopped on her track as her eyes caught a sight of a blue haired mage behind a pillar. She was watching team Natsu while biting her lips and playing with the hem of her shirt. Lucy slowly walked towards the nervous girl so she won't startle her.

"Juvia? What are you doing?" Lucy asked as soon as she arrived.

Shocked, Juvia desperately try to form some articulate words using her trembling lips. "Ju..Juvia is not spying on Gray-sama… cer… certainly not! And… and," Juvia shuttering stopped and her eyes narrowed watching Lucy judgingly. " And Juvia hopped Lucy-san are not doing that too."

Lucy laughed heartedly at Juvia's words. 'She still thinks we're her rival in love?' said her conscience and continued laughing. " Nonsense Juvia! I would never stalke Gray and how many times must I tell you? It's Lucy. Just Lucy,"

Juvia nodded slowly but Lucy can still see the doubt in Juvia's eyes. Lucy sighed while smiling. It was fun to laugh. With every chocking breath she took, she can feel her burden lessen. It felt like her burden flew away with the air she exhaled. Lucy suddenly felt a warm finger trailing her cheek. She opened her eyes and saw Juvia trailing the path of tears that had been there. The stellar mage was stunned by her act and was completely paralyzed by her words.

"Lucy-san has been crying again," she said with a sad smile. Juvia dropped her hand by her side while her head turned to her right side, watching the interaction between team Natsu and Lisanna. " And Juvia knows why," she added before she fell to the ground with tears in her eyes. She cried silently behind the pillar. It's shadow hiding both of them from the ignorant eyes of the guild.

"Gray… Gray-sama has not been paying any attention towards Juvia. It's not like Gray-sama did it before but usually, he would look at Juvia when he think Juvia is not watching… Now, Gray-sama won't even look at Juvia even though Juvia is right in front of him." Catching her breath, she added "Juvia never loses a friend before, Juvia don't know how it felt to have them return. But… but Juvia felt her heart ached seeing Gray-sama so happy without Juvia. Juvia felt jealousy and anger when Juvia sees them. Is… is Juvia a bad person Lucy-san?"

Lucy didn't answer Juvia's question… She won't heard it anyway under the sound of her heavy breathing and sobs. Lucy slowly turn her gaze from Juvia's trembling body to the faces of her nakama. She felt it too, the aching, the jealousy and anger. She felt all of it. It hit her with such force that her knee trembled under the pressure before her leg gave up on her and then she too was sitting on the floor in a mere second. Suddenly, she heard the rain. Before the cold wind that the rain carries could hit her, she could heard them. The sound of the rain was like bullets hitting their guild roof. Then, she smelled it; the smell of wet grass and soil. She inhaled it deeply before she slowly reached out for Juvia's hands that she used to hide her tear-streaked face but Juvia stubbornly held it there. Lucy looked at Juvia and sighed deeply before she came closer and hugged the crying girl. She could feel Juvia's shaking lessen and her sobs decrease. With a deep chocking breath, Juvia hugged Lucy back and cried on her shoulder.

Some times during their hugs, Juvia managed to talk a bit saying that she was sorry for the rain. This is when Lucy realized that the girl's sadness had caused the change in weather and she also realized that it had been raining so much lately. Now she know why. She closed her eyes and said. "Don't worry, what harm can a little rain do."

To be continued