I am back! Nothing much happens in this chapter, but a lot of things are explained here, so I highly recommend reading it. Also, I should've mentioned this in the previous chapter, but in this story, Natsu and the others are indeed wizards, which you will eventually find out as you read this chapter. I tried to make everything as understandable as possible. While magic doesn't really play a big role in these first chapters, it will be used eventually. Soon, even.

Anyway, I apologize if this A/N is annoyingly long. Without further ado, on with the chapter!

Enjoy!


3 Years Ago

"'Sup, guys?"

Walking hand-in-hand down the hall with a pretty purple-haired girl, 14 year-old Natsu Dragneel walked over to three of his friends who were currently standing between two classrooms. He waved his beautiful companion away dismissively when he got to them, and she gave him a quick kiss (which he half-heartedly returned) before she walked off. Gray smirked and waved with a "'Sup?", and Erza, though she looked unimpressed, smiled nonetheless at her friend. Lucy just eyed him coldly, scoffing.

"You just started dating a different girl last week, and now you're with a new one?" She spat. "You're unbelievable."

Instead of hurt, he looked rather amused at her comment, much to her irritation. He leaned foward. She had to fight the urge to step back in intimidation.

"Why do you care about who I date? Are you jealous?" He asked smugly. "You know, if you want to date me so badly all you have to do is ask."

It took all her strength to keep from turning bright red in both embarrassment and anger. "W-what?! I'd never date you! I wouldn't date you if we were last two people on earth! Dream on," She huffed, crossing her arms across her chest.

She was riled up even more when he just laughed. He backed away from her, the smug smile still on his face.

"Jeez Luce, I was only joking. Why so defensive? Are you trying to hide the fact that you actually do have a crush on me?"

This time, Lucy could not suppress the blush that invaded her face, much to her chagrin. "N-no! I'm just emphasizing the opposite! And do not call me Luce!"

Then her expression changed as she got an idea.

Her voice lowered, until she sounded as calm as the pink-haired pyro did. "Jeez Natsu, why do you keep assuming I like you? Do you actually have a crush on me?"

Their facial expressions from a few moments ago swapped. Lucy was now sporting a self-satisfied smirk, while Natsu's previous smirk was now gone, replaced by a small blush.

"A-as if!" He stammered. "Whatever. I'm out." He walked into the nearby classroom to the right of them, while Lucy stormed into the one on the left, leaving their other 2 friends alone in the hall, dazed. Erza and Gray, who had been closely watching the whole scene, sighed.

"They need to make out and get it over with already," said Gray tiredly. Erza blushed, but nodded in response.

"For once, I actually concur."


I had only just realized I'd been staring at him for the past 10 seconds, too shocked to make any movement to get off of him, and now he eyed me curiously as if to ask 'so are you gonna do anything or not?'. His curious look turned into a smug one a second later.

Dammit. Here it comes.

"C'mon Luce, have some decency. As much as I'd love to do this right now, we're in the middle of the street."

Aand there it is. Good old Natsu.

I felt my cheeks burn and I sloppily rushed to get to my feet, so fast it made me feel slightly light-headed. He did the same, except slower and with a lot more grace. We were now standing a good distance from each other. Good. I stared at him with a scowl, memories from the previous years flooding back into my head.

I still couldn't believe he was actually here. Two years ago, just before our first year at Fairy Academy, he left the Fairy Tail just before his first year at Fairy Academy, leaving everyone behind with no warning whatsoever. He probably attended either Sabertooth Academy or Phantom Academy, but none of us could know for sure because you weren't allowed to have any contact with other kids who went to a rival school, if you were attending one yourself.

Allow me to explain.

Natsu and I, along with our friends, live in Magnolia, home of the Fairy Tail guild that existed decades ago. Magnolia, along with other towns in the kingdom of Fiore, was very small, with only a few elementary and middle schools. The chain of schools in Magnolia was called the Fairy Tail School District, named after the Fairy Tail guild. There was Fairy Tail Elementary School, Fairy Tail Middle School, Fairy Junior High, and a few other schools, but no high school. There just wasn't enough space in town to have an entire high school that every kid in Magnolia could attend.

In another town, there was the Sabertooth School District, named after the Sabertooth guild. Like Magnolia, they were unable to build a proper high school. The Phantom Lord School District in Oak Town was the same.

This problem did not go unnoticed by the Fiore government. In Crocus, the massive capital of Fiore, there was more than enough room to build three high schools, so that was what they did. In areas just outside of the main area of the city, three boarding schools were built. In the north, they built Sabertooth academy. You were expected to go there if you had gone to school in the Sabertooth School District. In the east, there was Phantom Academy, and Fairy Academy resided in the west. It was an odd system, but there hasn't been any problems so far.

Actually, that was a lie. There were huge issues with this setup.

Back then, before guilds disbanded, the Fairy Tail guild was made up of friendly yet powerful wizards who shared a close bond with each other. But they were also notorious for accidentally destroying property during their jobs. The students who now go Fairy Academy took on these characteristics, many of us being friendly and modest (even though we could be absolutely crazy sometimes... Okay, a lot of times), but having tendencies to go overboard when it came to using magic for projects, jobs, or anything destructive, really.

The students who went to Sabertooth were also exceptionally strong wizards, but only because they didn't accept anything less, just like the Sabertooth guild back then. If your magic wasn't powerful enough, they kicked you to the curb. You were expected to be able to defeat all of your enemies, and if word got out that you lost a fight, you were disciplined severely. On some occasions you were even kicked out. They did not tolerate weakness under any circumstances. You had to be a pretty strong and confident wizard to get into Sabertooth, and as a result, they were all egotistical snobs. If Natsu did go to Sabertooth, I hoped to Mavis they didn't turn him into one of them. He was already bad the way he was, no need to make him worse.

I didn't know much about Phantom, but I've always been wary of them. Back when we were all allowed to interact with each other, I would always get bad vibes from people I met who went to Phantom Academy. Well, I guess it made sense to get a bad vibe, because when you met someone from a different school district it was almost guaranteed you were going to fight, but there was also something else to them. It was like they were always plotting something, something evil. You could tell by their secretive ways, their sly and sneaky actions, and even the looks on their faces and the way they carried themselves suggested they were up to no good. They were mysterious, those Phantoms, and not in a good way. No one really knew much about them. It also didn't help that the president of the Fairy Tail district and the president of the Phantom Lord district didn't have the best relationship. They practically hated each other, so I wouldn't be surprised if the Phantoms were plotting something bad against us Fairies.

Now, let me explain why this system was problematic.

Fairy Tail, Sabertooth, and Phantom Academy were known as the "rival schools" in Fiore because of the intense rivalry between the three of us. We would fight with each other... on a regular basis. It's almost like we were three separate large gangs, instead of students. If you were a Fairy Tail student walking through the streets of Crocus and you were unlucky enough to find a Saber or Phantom, people crowded around you, expecting a fight... And they usually got one. One school would always feel the need to assert its dominance over the others, which led to many street fights, and mild vandalism in the more shabby parts of town. After a few years of constant fighting, nearly the whole city separated into territories. The entire north, east, and west of the city was split into sections, the north being Sabertooth Territory, the east being Phantom Lord Territory, and the west being Fairy Tail Territory. If you went to one of the three schools, you didn't dare enter a part of the city that was on another school's turf. If you did dare to trespass another school's territory, you basically signed your death sentence. You were safest in your sector, along with the areas of Crocus that weren't taken over by the students, that being the center of the city where the King and Queen of Fiore resided (no one would ever dare to try and mark territory there), and the whole southern part of the city. The fighting was still really bad in these free parts, though, and this went on for a long time, but after a law was passed a few years ago that the Sabertooth, Phantom Lord, and Fairy Tail students were not allowed to have any contact with each other, things got better. If you were to even glance at a student from a different school, you could be questioned, or even fined. The law was less active in the territories, though, because it was your own fault if you were dumb enough to walk right into enemy territory. But for the most part, everything was better. Thank Mavis. I don't know what would've happened if things were to get out of control. Though it was still a possibility. It was only a matter of time before people started to disregard the law and act on their own accord. We were still kids who didn't know any better, after all. The whole thing kind of scared me. I mean, I guess I could leave all my friends and transfer to a nice school like Lamia Scale High, in a peaceful quiet suburban town that wasn't too far away from home, but where was the fun in that?

With all that said, it made sense why we didn't hear from Natsu at all for the past two years. If he's been going to a different rival school, he wasn't allowed to talk to us, and we weren't allowed to talk to him. On top of that, we couldn't enter any place in Crocus that was occupied by the Sabers or the Phantoms. But that didn't make it any better. He still left without any sort of goodbye, which pissed everyone off (except me of course…) considerably.

So why was he back now?

Which school did he go to?

Why did he come back?

Had he missed our friends?

Has he changed?

Would Fairy Tail accept him?

Actually, that last question was a no-brainer. In Fairy Tail, you don't turn your back on your classmates, no matter what. They'd accept him back in a heartbeat. It also helped that he had a lot of friends. But while he was immensely popular, he was also quite the delinquent. When we got to middle school, he never came to class on time, wasn't afraid to speak his mind (which pissed teachers, and me, off considerably), and liked to start "accidental" fires in classrooms with his powerful fire magic. How he never got expelled, I don't know. He had no concern for school rules, which is why he got detention almost every day. He was also one of the biggest players you could meet. Because of his strength (both magic and physical) and (as much as I'd hate to admit) looks, he was admired by many girls. When everyone started dating in 7th grade, he had a new girlfriend every other month, and on some occasions, every week. In 8th grade, the guy was never single, moving on to a new girl every 2 weeks or so, and he was only 14. But even though he wasn't the best kid to get involved with if you wanted to stay out of trouble, his charismatic personality made you want to be his friend. He was also really smart, always getting high grades despite never doing his homework. I had no idea how he did it. He was a genius without even trying.

Back when he went to Fairy Tail with us, we shared a mutual dislike for each other. We argued over anything and everything, no matter how big or small. We just never saw eye to eye, that's just how it was. And as we got older, it didn't get better. We gradually stopped being constantly at each other's throats as we got closer to middle school, but what he started to do instead when we actually got there was worse. Every time I'd call him out on something he did wrong, he'd turn it around on me. He'd call my arguments an "attempt at flirting", an "excuse to talk to him", an "effort to keep my 'obsession' for him secret by pretending to hate him", and any other ridiculous accusation of that sort you could possibly think of, just to rile me up. And it did rile me up indeed, to the point where I had to stop myself from giving him a "Lucy Kick" to the face. He wasn't a bad person, though. We just never got along. And no matter what his stupid cat, or Mira, said, it wasn't because I liked him. Definitely not. Nope.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" I demanded, dumbstruck.

"Isn't it obvious? I transferred back to Fairy Tail," he responded while picking up his bag, amused face still intact. "Did you miss me?"

"Like hell." For some reason, it felt like I had just told a lie.

"Oh come on, No need for all that. How about we just put the past behind us, okay? I've matured."

"I doubt you even know the meaning of the word matured," I said, annoyed by his presence. "Why did you even leave anyway? Where did you go?" I asked, hoping it didn't sound like I cared too much. Because I didn't. Totally didn't. Not at all.

"Why do you care?"

"I don't."

"Then why did you ask?"

"Because I just want to know!"

"Why?"

"Because I do!"

"Why do you?"

"Because- no. I'm not doing this with you right now," I said, already exasperated. Matured, my ass.

"Doing what?" He responded with a smirk.

I chose to ignore and walk around him. I was going to be even later now, thanks to Natsu.

As I picked up my duffel bag and maneuvered my way around his now 17-year old body, his eyes followed my every move, and I suddenly felt self-conscious for whatever reason I didn't know. He then proceeded to follow behind me as I started to walk straight, toward the train station. I sped up.

"Why the rush, Luce?" Even though I couldn't see him, I knew he was smirking. That made me even more annoyed. I wanted nothing more than to slap the arrogance right off his face.

"I'm not answering that question," I said simply, without slowing down. He knew damn well where I was going. He continued to walk at the same pace as me.

"Why are you walking so fast?"

"Because I'm going to miss the train."

"So?"

"So, unlike you, I want to get to school."

"That's lame."

"Okay."

"Boring, Luce."

"Call me Luce again and I'll castrate you with your own fire."

That made him stop walking, which made me stop as well, in curiosity. Did he seriously get hurt by that comment? I turned to face him with a raised eyebrow. He was smirking.

"It's good to be back. See you at school, Lucy," He said with his smirk still intact, and promptly turned around to walk in the opposite direction.

"Aren't you taking the train?!" I called out to him.

"Are you kidding? There's no way I'm getting on that death trap!" He called back. Seconds later a red haired man exited Natsu's front door and jumped high into the sky. After a few moments the average sized man had completely shapeshifted into a huge red dragon hovering in the sky. The sound of nearby windows opening was heard from where I stood on the street, followed by the sound of shocked, curious people.

"Is that..?"

"Natsu?"

"Natsu and Igneel are back?"

"Is that who I think it is?"

"They're back! Mom, they're back!"

Oh. I see. His dad would be taking him to school.

Dammit, I wish I had a cool dad who could shapeshift between human and dragon whenever he wanted.

Natsu's flying blue cat, Happy, then flew through his front door, picking the teen up and plopping him on the dragon's back. He then went back for the rest of Natsu's things. They disappeared in the sky with a woosh. People gasped in awe from their windows. I couldn't help but also watch the whole thing in complete wonder, momentarily forgetting how late I was. Hey, it's not every day you get to see a pink haired teenager with a flying blue cat ride off into the sunrise on a huge dragon.

I shook my head and turned back around, resuming my run to the train station, faster than before. I had no time to stop now.


It was 8:05 when I got to the station, and it was just about to leave. I ended up having to stop the doors from closing, but hey, at least I didn't miss it.

I rushed through the narrow doors, panting like a crazy person. As soon as I got in, the doors closed and the large train began to move. I took a look around. Everyone was already here, as expected. They had been talking avidly with each other, until I stormed in. Now they were all staring at me in amusement. The first friend I spotted was the brunette sitting in a compartment by a window at the far back corner, next to a certain blue-haired bookworm. Cana and Levy. In the seat across from them, I saw a familiar head of red hair, sitting next to two familiar heads of white hair. Erza, Mira, and her twin sister Lisanna. I smiled, making my way over through the narrow aisle, passing by other sections and waving to friends in other compartments until I got to the back of the train. I took the seat by Levy, and stuffed my bag under it.

"You made it! I thought you were gonna have to walk!" Cana exclaimed. Levy,

Mira and Lisanna nodded vigorously in agreement. Erza had her arms crossed with an expression that screamed "I'm a disappointed mother". I didn't respond because I was still completely out of breath, but my eyes spotted the flask hidden in the waistband of Cana's shorts and I let out a small laugh. Typical.

"Here, have some of this. It's great after a workout."

Mira handed me a small vial from out of her large bag and handed it to me. I popped open the cap and emptied its contents into my waiting mouth. The warm, flavorless liquid immediately made me feel completely revitalized, almost as if I hadn't ran an inch before getting here.

"This is great!" I exclaimed, holding up the bottle at eye level to get a closer look. "What is it?"

"Refresher potion. I got it from that old shop just down Main Street," Mira replied.

"Remind me to go pick some up when we come back," I said, returning the vial. She laughed and nodded.

"Sure thing. So why so late?"

"Sorry, I would have been here earlier but-" I was about to tell them all about my unexpected encounter with Natsu, but stopped myself. Knowing them, they'd start freaking out over him coming back, and it would cause everyone to hear the news, resulting in a chain reaction in the large train full of fellow students.

"But..?" Erza pushed me to continue my sentence, leaning forward. Everyone else in the booth followed soon after, and I felt cornered. Should I tell them? They were gonna see him on campus anyhow. But not telling them would just make me feel like a terrible person. I contemplated this. Oh well, I'd probably end up telling them about it later anyway.

"But.. I may have bumped into … someone on the street."

Cana's eyebrow arched. "Eh? Who?"

They all looked at me in curiosity.

"I'll tell you, but if you guys start freaking out I'll stop," I warned, not really wanting to cause a scene with my news. They all continued to look, interested, then they nodded excitedly and moved even closer to me. I hoped to Mavis they wouldn't freak out at what I was about to say. Well, here goes nothing.

"It was... Natsu," I said as low as I could muster while making sure they could still hear me.

"NATSU DRAGNEEL?!" They all attempted to whisper, but utterly failed. It came out slightly louder than their normal voices, and my hands instantly flew over Levy's mouth in a stupid and futile attempt to silence them all. I looked around the room, now extremely thankful all the other passengers were too immersed in their own conversations to hear ours... Or so I thought. My eyes fell on all our other friends sitting close by, and they were all leaned toward the compartment I was in. They seemed to have had been listening in to our whole conversation. Gray, who was sitting in the booth beside us with Loke, Jellal, and Max, had his jaw on the floor. Erza's eyes were the size of golf balls. Lisanna's eyes looked just like Erza's, but she was also wearing a huge grin that looked exactly like how Mirajane's looked at the moment. These expressions were also on Elfman, Jet, Droy, Nab, Max, Evergreen, Bixlow, Freed, and even Laxus's face; they all had sitting in nearby compartments, listening in. Thankfully, no one else (that I saw) seemed to hear. I turned back to look with a scowl at the four girls who were in my compartment, but it softened into more of an amused stare when I saw their eyes, which still looked extremely shocked. Their eyebrows were almost lost in their hair.

"Dammit, guys! I said don't freak out," I said tiredly, face-palming. I promptly turned back to face all the others. "Yes, it was Natsu Dragneel."

"What happened!? Where is he?" Gray all but demanded. That didn't surprise me, he was Natsu's best friend after all.

So much keeping it on the down-low.


After a few minutes of answering questions from everyone about Natsu's reappearance, everyone went to talking amongst themselves in their own booths, mainly about that pink-haired pyro. In mine we were also still talking about him, much to my dismay. Levy had long checked out of the conversation though, now deeply focused on the book she was reading. She and Natsu had never been that close anyway.

"Oh my Mavis! I can't believe he's finally back," Lisanna exclaimed. "I missed him so much!"

"So does he look any different?" Mira asked me.

"He looks... Older," I said simply, trying not to say anything that would cause them, especially Mira, to make assumptions. It was no secret that my friends had wanted Natsu and I to get together since 7th grade for some stupid reason.

"Older as in... Better?" Cana asked suggestively, wiggling her eyebrows.

"Older as in older," I deadpanned.

"I can't wait to see how much he's grown," Erza said excitedly in her mother-like voice, eyes dazzling.

Mira's eyes sparkled as well. "Yeah, and you guys were so cute! I can't wait to see my favorite couple again!" She squealed. She and her twin then shared a high-five while happily chanting the phrase "Nalu". I rolled my eyes, but with a lack of seriousness as I laughed along with everyone else.

"Whatever," I chuckled.

"You can't be in denial forever, Lucy Heartfilia!" Mira squealed, causing me to laugh even more. Those twins knew no boundaries when it came to matchmaking.

"We shouldn't forget that he completely disappeared without so much as a goodbye, though," Cana said seriously, effectively shifting the mood.

"Indeed. He must be punished, after he is questioned," Erza added.

"Aw come on guys, for all we know something really important came up, and he had to leave ASAP! We shouldn't jump to conclusions so soon," Lisanna reasoned. Mira nodded.

"You've been saying that since he left. Well, I guess we'll find out when we see him," Cana concluded. Everyone nodded in agreement.

No one else in the booth talked about me and Natsu for the rest of the trip after that, thankfully. We spent the rest of the 6 hour train ride catching up, talking about our plans for the school year, eating, and occasionally, napping.

The sun was high in the sky when we arrived at Crocus, the "Blooming Capital" of Fiore. Luckily, the train station was located in the central part of the city, so we didn't have to worry about entering enemy territory. But school hadn't started yet, so surely everyone else in Phantom and Sabertooth were starting to move back into their dorms at this time as well. We would have to be cautious in this part of the city for now. As soon as I got out of the train and into the bright sun, I took a deep breath of the city air and was hit with a wave of nostalgia. I left the station and was greeted with the familiar beautifully decorated, paved streets filled with people and stalls selling various items, the clean buildings you saw at every corner that were mostly hotels and stores, and the tall castle that stood proudly in the dead center of the city, Mercurious, could be seen in the distance.

"I'm back," I contently whispered to myself, shutting my eyes and taking in the sounds of the city.

The Fairies went their separate ways as we began heading west towards campus, but we would eventually all end up at the same place. Evergreen grouped up with Laxus, Freed, and Bixlow, Lisanna went with her twin sister and Elfman, Gray left with Loke, Jellal and Max, and I left with Erza, Levy and Cana. All the other students left with their own friends.

"Do you guys wanna walk around the city for a bit before we head to campus?" Levy asked hopefully.

I was about to voice my agreement, but Erza spoke before I could. "Negative. We should get settled first before anything."

Cana nodded. "Yeah, I really don't wanna have to carry this bag everywhere. Let's unpack first," she said while adjusting the strap of her duffel bag more securely on her shoulder. She did have a point. This thing was seriously starting to get heavy, and the heat wasn't making it any better. I had to remove my sweatshirt and wrap it around my waist when we got off the train because of how hot it was, and so I was now walking in a white tank top, but it was still blazing.

With that, we decided to make our way straight to campus.

After about 30 minutes of walking, we were standing in front of the large red buildings of F.A. We wasted no time as we rushed to the dormitory, greeting fellow students occasionally, and the first thing I did when I got to my dorm in Fairy Hills was drop my bag somewhere on the floor and flop face-down on my clean pink comforter. After hours of train-riding, walking, greeting people on campus, and months of being restricted in a depressing house with my oh-so caring father, I was exhausted, and it was only 4 o'clock in the afternoon.

It was good to be back.

With a content sigh, I fell asleep a few minutes later.


Two hours later, I woke up to a knock on my door followed by muffled female voices saying things that sounded like "Lucy! Open up!" And "Stop sleeping!"

I slowly rose up from my comfortable bed and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, immediately missing the softness of my mattress, and walked over the door, swinging it open to find Erza, Levy, and Lisanna in the hall. They were dressed in new clothes with their fists in the air as they were about to knock on the door a millionth time. Erza sported a white sundress that was fitted at the top and flowy on the bottom, and went to her knees. Levy was dressed in a casual short orange dress. I was starting to feel slightly underdressed before I saw Lisanna, who was wearing denim shorts like mine, along with a light blue flowy tank top. Lisanna grinned as she pointed over her shoulder with her thumb.

"C'mon, we're gonna go meet Natsu and the other guys in the courtyard," She said with barely contained excitement. I immediately brightened at the thought of all of us hanging out as a group again.

"I gotta change first, but I'll meet you guys," I said while tugging at my plain white tank top. They nodded and proceeded to walk away.

"Don't take too long!" Levy called out as they made their way down the carpeted hall, that was brightly lit by the sun flowing through the wall of windows on the opposite side.

"We'll be waiting in front of the dorm building!" Erza followed.

"'Kay!"

I closed the door and began the process of changing.

So Natsu's officially back, huh.

At the thought, I suddenly felt the need to look as good as possible.

That unnerved me.