That girl we once thought that vanished into thin air, has come back. Now she returns to steal Salamander's heart...
It was a strangely bright morning that fateful day; the sun shone a little brighter; the sky seemed more luminated; and the birds sang joyfully as if someone they cared dearly about, finally arrived.
As Lucy walked down the hard pavement, she noticed Natsu and an unknown girl; she fairly reconized, talking around the little house that Natsu mentioned, a long time ago. Lucy strode a bit briskly towards the two; as if they were about to break into a run. When she became within earshot, she heard a familiar laughter that rang in her head like a crystal bell - a voice that she faintly remembered so long ago, that it came to her as if it was a dream.
"Oh, do you remember that time when we both raised Happy here, six years ago?" Natsu remarked.
"Yeah, that was the good ol' times! Oh it's so good to see you again, Natsu!"
Natsu hugged the girl tenderly, but also firmly, like as if he didn't want her to disappear again without a single goodbye. Natsu noticed Lucy a few metres away, looking stunned as if she'd seen a ghost. Quickly, he withdrew his embrace, slightly embarrassed. Muttering an apology to the girl, he rushed to Lucy's side.
"How are you doing, Lucy?" Natsu said, wishing that Lucy wasn't there to see his tender embrace with Lisanna. It was just that he hadn't seen her in such a long time; two years in fact, and she'd left without a goodbye, leaving Natsu wondering why.
"Yeah, definitely; watching you hug another girl is my cup of tea. Don't mind me, I think your friend's waiting for you. Don't let me ruin your fun," Lucy spat bitterly.
"Come on, you can't get jealous over this one minor thing?"
"Oh, so now you're calling me an over-obsessive girlfriend!?"
In outrage, Natsu said the most horrible thing to Lucy, "FOR THE LAST FRICKIN' TIME, YOU'RE NOT MY GIRLFRIEND! WE'RE NOT EVEN DATING!"
Lucy stared at Natsu in utter horror; eyes filling up with tears that were threatening to spill.
Collecting her emotions; with her voice breaking every word she muttered, she managed to mumble, "At least I'm committed to us!"
Out of boiling anger, Natsu retorted back, "There is no US!"
Lucy turned away, clearly hurt by his bitter words. She's confided in him a month ago, and this was his answer? She quickly glanced back at the girl, and turned back to Natsu, saying with fury, "Your girl is waiting; you better not keep her."
He suddenly realized what impact his words had had on her, and he quickly tried to reach out to her, but Lucy shrugged his hand away, and walked away. She walked glumly back to the guild, dragging her feet holding back the tears; trying to not show weakness. Natsu stood there rooted to the ground, unable to comprehend what just happened a few seconds ago. What did happen in the first place? Did she just dump him, even though they weren't technically even dating? He looked desperately back at Lisanna.
"Go to her. She needs you more then I do. I'll wait. Don't worry," she assured him.
"Are you sure, Lisanna? I mean it's been-," Natsu got cut off.
"Yes, I'm sure. I've been gone for two years, but now I'm back for good. I won't go disappearing on everyone else, okay?" Lisanna ushered him in the direction which Lucy'd left in. "Go on, Natsu."
He thanked her and ran towards the guild, shortly meeting up with Happy.
"What happened there, Natsu?" he asked.
"Nothing. Don't ask."
"Aye sir!"
Banging open the doors to the newly built guild building, he called out Lucy's name. That brought a lot of attention to himself, and many people were already overwhelming him with whispers and constant stares.
"I gotta find her," he muttered under his breath.
"Whoa whoa whoa, Natsu! Aren't you in a hurry!" Makarov called from above.
"Sorry, I gotta find Lucy," he explained.
"You're outta luck. She just left the guild a couple minutes ago, grumbling something about some girl."
"Oh. Thanks, pops!" Natsu waved and broke out into a run once he was outside. He knew just where Lucy'd gone to recollect herself - her house. He knocked loudly on her door, but it didn't open a single crack. "Oh come on, Luce!"
The door cracked open and Lucy stared at Natsu. She was in her pajamas and her eyes were bright red, as if she'd just cried her heart out.
"W-what do you want? Where's your white-haired girlfriend?" she sniffed loudly.
"We're not in that kind of relationship, Luce. She's been missing for two years, and suddenly she appears. Plus, her name's Lisanna."
"I don't care what her name is! And I don't care if she's been missing for all these years! We made a contract that we'd have each other's backs, when we first met! Don't tell me you forgot that too! Natsu, look, I need time alone. It's clear that you've made your choice," and with that, Lucy slammed the door at Natsu's face, leaving himas stunned as ever.
"Oi, open up! I'm not done with you yet!" Natsu shouted while banging his hands on the door.
"Natsu, I think it's better to leave Lucy alone," Happy told him.
"I think you're right. I'll wait 'till she cools down."
"Aye!"
Lucy heard everything outside, and she cried even more; gut wrenching sobs, taking every last bit of energy she had. Plue waddled to her and began to calm her down with his actions. She looked at him and hugged him tightly, "Oh Plue! You're the only one left who I trust... At least you won't go behind my back and go off with another girl."
He responded with his usual, "Pluu-pluuu", instantly cheering up Lucy.
Lucy walked to the guild the next day and do her usual business: checking the Jobs bulletin board for a job, so that she could pay for rent to the land lady. as she briefly glanced at it, she spotted a very high paid, but simple job. The Phantom Lord guild was causing trouble again; destroying Blue Pegasus' building, and threatening their members. The job simply wanted Mages to repair the building, and no more. There were only several Mages left from the guild, and they were forced to ask for help from other guilds. Lucy thought to herself, and wondered, if she should take this mission by herself. It was a normal job, so she could participate, but at the same time, she'd experienced Phantom Lord's true anger and fury once. They'd bomboarded Fairy Tail once, and they sure regretted it. Now they were targetting another guild for probably the same foolish reason.
"Hey Lucy!" Happy called out happily.
"Oh Hi Happy," Lucy replied, keeping her eyes fixated on the bulletin board even though her mind was set on the job.
"Whatcha doin'?"
"Finding a suitable job so that I can pay my rent."
"Can we come too?"
"No, I want to take this job by myself," Lucy responded a little too hastely, indicating the impression that she was mad.
"Reeeaaallly? Is it because of you and Natsu's fight?"
"Shut up, you blue flying Exceed cat!"
"You llllllliiike him!"
"Shut up!"
"Don't worry, I won't tell!"
"I said, shut up!"
"Hey, Happy!" Natsu beckoned his friend over. Lucy immediately turned away promising herself not to go weak in the knees, and fall into Natsu's arms. She snatched the Phantom Lord job, and ran over to Mirajane.
"I'd like this job, please!" she spoke in a rushed tone as if Natsu was going to stop her.
"Okay! Have fun, and be safe, Lucy!" Mirajane cheerfully encouraged her.
Natsu ran up to her and began interrogating her, "What's Lucy doing? Where is she? Is she coming back? Why is she off alone? We're a team! Why did you let her? Oh you're no help!"
Before poor Mirajane could answer, Erza stepped up and confronted her, "Is Natsu bothering you again?"
"Ah no, he's just wondering why Lucy stopped by."
"'Cause if he is, I will make him pay."
"No no, it's fine!"
"You sure?"
"Yes yes!"
In the meantime, Lucy was busy packing up for her mission, until she heard a knock on the door. She peeked through the eyehole, and was surprised to see... Gray. She quickly opened the door to let him in. They walked to the living room, and Gray got a closer look at Lucy.
"Hey! Whoa... what happened here?" Gray immediately noticed Lucy's red, puffy eyes, despite of her effort to hide them.
"Nothing. So, w-what's up?"
"It's not 'what's up'. Clearly you've been bawling your eyes out like there was no tomorrow; what happened? I'm your team mate, and not to forget your friend, so you can trust me."
"Well, it all started with that Lisanna. I don't know why, but I don't hate her. I mean, she and Natsu were hugging in front me...so I might've been a little jealous, but I am his..uh.. um!Well still, how could I not hate her for doing that? I don't know. I mean, when I tried to ask for an explanation, Natsu refused to tell me, and starts an humongous argument with me!" Lucy's voice was starting to break again. "And now he's gone with some girl named Lisanna. What should I do, Gray?!"
Right then, Lucy was in tears again.
"Shh shhhh, don't worry. Natsu really cares about you, he wouldn't do that to you," Gray reassured her in a soothing tone. Hell yeah right he wouldn't! That two-faced bastard wouldn't care if someone was willingly to die for him! "Oh Lisanna! I'm so glad you're here!" while the other person is killing themselves to even be able to be around him! Hell, Lisanna's been gone for two years now; left without a single goodbye. And, now that she's back, I can't believe Natsu is really ready to give up this sweet deal with Lucy for her! Gray thought angrily in his head, trying not to show his frustration.
"Thanks, Gray." Lucy made out as she was stuffing her nose with as many tissues as her delicate hands could hold.
"Don't worry, if he ever hurts you again, he'll be dealing with me." Gray softy said as he held Lucy to his chest.
Lucy rested her head against the Ice Mage's shoulder, deeply surprisingly the latter. However, he did like it. Gray draped his arm around Lucy, as if he was protecting her against the unknown predators of the wild. Lucy grabbed onto his shirt, that he, for once, was wearing. With a tender look on his face, he gently embraced her, and the two stayed like that a while. Lucy was very confused by his actions, but made no attempt to protest. Gray kept wondering in his head why Natsu would leave Lucy ever so vulnerable like that...
Three weeks passed and still no sign of Lucy; she was still on the job. Natsu began to worry and tried to scout for her, but with no avail. A simple job like that would only take a week, at most. It wasn't asking to beat up Phantom Lord, nor was it asking for revenge to recruit more Mages. It was only building repairment. But if it was just that, what was taking Lucy so long? She had her keys, especially Taurus, so what kept her from returning?
"No! What I'm saying is we should go look for her! She's been gone for a month now; can't you see?" Natsu tried to reason with Erza, who was holding him back from the guild's doors.
"Natsu! This is her job, and she chose to finish it on her own! Have some curtsy, and show some respect! Don't you you have faith in her? Do you think she failed?" Erza bellowed at him.
"You don't understand! I-"
"It's alright if I don't! But what I'm saying is, you can't go and find her! She could be anywhere; we don't know Blue Pegasus' location at the moment!"
"Then we find out!"
"You're so stubborn! Lisanna, get him away from the doors! Lock him if you have to!"
"Natsu, forgive me," Lisanna dragged him away and into the meeting room. "Please forgive me for doing this; you know very well what happens when you aggitate Erza."
Just when everything was looking down for Natsu, Gray walked in, "Hey now, I believe you. Even if it's just repairing a building, it shouldn't last that long, right?"
Lisanna walked out of the room, "Well, pardon me; I'm going to help Mirajane organize the jobs."
Natsu looked up and gave him a sad smile, "I can't leave."
"Then we'll go together," Gray held out his hand. "I'll sacrifice my life for Lucy."
"She's mine, not yours. You have Juvia, but wait! Lyon's hitting on her, so you better make your move before then!"
"I heard you guys got into a fight because you were hugging Lisanna! You claim her to be yours? I really still can't get over why in the first place she fell for you! Plus I don't have feelings for Juvia; feast all you want Lyon, my ass!"
"Wait, how did you know about the fight?"
"The whole guild knows, baka! You're not fit for Lucy!"
"What the hell did you just say, Captain Underpants?"
"Oh, I meant exactly what I said, Flamebrain!"
"So you're saying that you're the best match for her?"
"Hell yeah! Look at you! Pathetic. And I hope you know that she gives amazing hugs! But you wouldn't know about that, now would you?!"
"You hugged my girl?"
"Yeah, and she actually liked it!"
"You flirt too much! Playboy!"
"Oh, look at who's talking, Mr. Oh-I'll-just-hug-my-ex girlfriend-in-front-the-girl-who-actually-cares-ab out-my-well-being!"
"Lisanna's not my ex-girlfriend! She wasn't my girlfriend at all!"
"Apparently that's what you said to Lucy also! Now why don't you explain that to her! Oh wait, that's right, she left because of you! Or you would've done your little explaining when she was bawling her eyes out! Let's see if she'll believe you now!"
Fire clashed with ice, as the two Mages fought in the room.
"Get back here, iceblock!"
They exchanged punches and kicks, but the rest of the guild surprisingly didn't notice all the commotion they were making in the room. After exchanging a few more blows, the floor rumbled loudly. Natsu and Gray payed no attention, and continued their quarrel. After one punch to the ground, the floor gave in, and Natsu and Gray plummeted down through the ground.