AN: I haven't started a new story in a while, I forgot how long it takes for things to pick up lol. The chapters will get longer, I promise! Well, here's chapter 2! :D
Chapter 2
First Encounter
Summer break went by in the blink of an eye. All over Magnolia, students moved with sluggish steps, hauling their bookbags over their shoulders. Magnolia was a big city full of students trying to better their lives, not that Lucy could relate. She simply did what was expected of her, knowing that it didn't matter what she did in the end since she would eventually die and start anew someday.
Though Lucy hated reincarnating, she had to admit that it had some plus sides to it. For starters, each life was an opportunity to learn from. Plus, she had the chance to make countless of friends. The only issue was Lucy didn't have the motivation to do either of those things.
With a heavy sigh, the girl grabbed her bag and headed out of her apartment. The walk to school didn't take long as her apartment was in the center of town. Lucy's eyes widened a fraction as she drunk in the sight of all of the students pooled together on campus, moving together like a colorful sea. So far, this school was the largest she had been to, and also the most selective.
Feeling her phone vibrate in her pocket, Lucy fished it out to find a text from Levy.
"Hey, I'm in class!" it read.
With nimble fingers, she texted back, "Save me a seat, I'm almost there!"
Lucy was glad that Levy was in one of her classes. After all, the girl was her only friend in this lifetime. She was even more glad that Gajeel wasn't in the class.
Classes at their school counted for a lot of credits, letting Lucy get away with taking only three classes but still being considered a full-time student. Unfortunately, her classes were all spread out through the week, so she still had class five days a week like the high schoolers.
"I just have to get through two classes today," Lucy thought as she reached the door to her first class. It wasn't that she hated school, but after living four different lifetimes, everything grew repetitive. At least this class was related to writing, her one and only passion.
"Lu-chan!" Levy called out, waving her over.
Lucy smiled and took a step forward before realizing that there were three chairs seated to a desk, meaning that someone else would share a table with her and Levy. She turned her gaze towards the person seated by Levy. It was a boy with bright blue hair similar to Levy's and he had a strange, maroon tattoo on his face.
Lucy took the other seat beside Levy.
"Ready for your first day of college?" the petite girl asked, skillfully wiggling her eyebrows. It was a trait that Lucy had attempted to learn to do but could never master.
The blonde awkwardly chuckled. "Y-Yeah, my first day!" Truthfully, she had attended college all four of her lifetimes, so nothing was new to her. Nothing ever would be new to her. "I just hope the class really let's us write whatever we want."
"Well it is a creative writing class, so I would assume they would. I don't have any confidence in my writing, but I'm excited to read your stories, Lu-chan!"
Lucy's face flushed and she waved her hands in front of her face. "M-My writing isn't any good yet! I'm not a professional or anything!"
"But you will be!" Levy assured, winking at her. "And I want to be your first reader so I can brag to people that I was the first to read Lucy Heartfilia's story!" Before Lucy could reply, the boy sitting next to Levy cleared his throat, gaining their attention. Levy laughed and rubbed the back of her head. "Sorry, I forgot to introduce you!"
Lucy arched a brow. "You two know each other? Oh, is he your brother? You two do look alike!" Even their eyes were the same color.
"Everyone thinks that, but no we aren't related. This is Jellal, my friend."
The boy gave Lucy a nervous grin, which she returned with one of her own.
"How do you two know each other?" she asked.
"We have a mutual friend," Jellal answered. "My wife, actually."
"Oh, that's nice. Are you into reading or writing, too?"
The boy nodded, though that was a lie. In truth, Erza had forced him to join the class that Levy had with the mortal she had been hanging out with all summer. He was supposed to watch over their friend and make sure she didn't say anything that revealed too much, and that the mortal wasn't going to hurt Levy.
Once the clock struck ten o'clock, the professor entered the classroom. It was an older gentleman, too overdressed to be teaching a college course as he was wearing a full tuxedo and, oddly enough, shades over his eyes. If the heat was bothering him he didn't show it, his features calm and collected.
"Good morning, everyone," he greeted, setting up his desk. "You may refer to may as Capricorn. Pull out your notebooks, we're starting with a twenty-minute writing session."
A student in the front of the room raised their hand. "What's the prompt?"
"You may choose for today. Just make sure it is interesting enough for the whole class to read."
Lucy swallowed thickly, her stomach churning. "I hope he doesn't really intend to make everyone read their stories out loud in front of the whole class!"
Lucy chose to work on the story she was already working on at home. It was about a young girl who meets a young boy in a world of magic and go on adventures together, all the while getting to know each other and eventually falling in love. She was very frustrated when she made so much progress in this story in her last lifetime just to end up dying and have to restart.
"Time is up. Using the class' roster sheet, everyone is already assigned a number," Capricorn explained. "Here, I have a cup full of popsicle sticks with everyone's number. Everyday, we will spend twenty minutes writing and I will select five people at random to read what they've written and I will critique it."
"In front of the class?" a student asked.
"Of course. That is the kind of feedback that you will most remember."
Lucy paled, praying to whatever god was out there that she wouldn't be picked. It wasn't that she thought she was a bad writer or anything, she just wasn't the best either. She didn't want people to read her work when she was still an amateur.
Luckily, she made it through the day without having her number called on. She felt bad for the unfortunate ones, but figuring that she dealt with the misfortune of reincarnation, she felt they could take one for the team this time.
Once class ended, Lucy waved goodbye towards Levy and even Jellal before heading to her next class. Of course, her class just so happened to be on the opposite side of campus, and she was only given a ten-minute walking period before her next class started. Luck just really wasn't in the girl's favor.
Sweating and gasping for air, Lucy reached her next class in the nick of time. She wasn't exactly the athletic type, and it was biting her in the ass now. It was funny, no matter what life she lived, she never bothered trying to be sporty.
Lucy glanced around the room, finding that it was decently sized with about thirty students or so. Not particularly looking forward to this class at it was just a basic requirement, the girl headed towards the back of the room where she hoped she would never make an impression.
"Why do we need to take math classes?" she wondered, resting her head in the palm of her hand with a sigh. "Not everyone wants to be a mathematician."
Just as the bell rang, the teacher entered the classroom, a scowl plastered to her face. She was a beautiful woman seemingly in her late-twenties with strikingly blue hair, lighter than Levy's and slicked back neatly out of her face. She was in great shape as well. The only bad feature Lucy could see was the clear anger she displayed in her face.
The professor's eyes glazed over the room, pretty much glaring at everyone. With a scoff, she said, "Listen, brats. I'm not one of those professors you can get chummy with, so don't even try it. I'm here to do my job and if you don't like it, leave. I don't give a damn. My name is Aquarius. We aren't going to do any of those bullshit games where you introduce yourself and state your hobbies, because I don't care. I'm going over the syllabus now, pay attention."
Lucy swallowed thickly, knowing that this professor was going to be a pain in the ass. Aquarius pulled up a slideshow with the syllabus, about to elaborate when the door burst open. Everyone turned their heads to find two boys fighting to get through the doorway first while calling each other weird, obscene names.
One was a raven-haired boy who was admittedly pleasing to the eyes. He had a lean body and his abs were made noticeable due to the fact that his button-up shirt wasn't even buttoned up. Lucy wondered if he would get in trouble over it, but didn't think too hard about it.
The boy he was shoving to get inside was in Lucy's opinion, even more attractive, though definitely weird at the same time. With pink tufts of hair, he stood out like a sore thumb among other students. Sure, almost everyone at school had crazy colored hair, but she had never met a boy with pink hair.
This boy dressed strangely as well, wearing baggy white pants and a long vest with only one sleeve. Lucy's eyes were drawn to his revealed abs, as he wore nothing under his opened vest. Her gaze trailed down his abs, towards the hem of his pants before her face flushed with heat and she forced her gaze up to the boy's eyes. They were a deep onyx color but held a hint of playfulness.
In the blink of an eye, whiteboard markers were thrown at the two's foreheads, causing them to yelp.
"Sit. Down," Aquarius ground out, her eye twitching in annoyance. There was nothing she hated more than obnoxious brats.
"Y-Yes, ma'am!" the two replied in unison. So far, their professor was reaching Erza-levels of terror.
Lucy's eyes made contact with the pink-haired boy as he surveyed the room for an empty seat. There just so happened to be two empty seats to the right of her, and the two were rushing towards the back to sit by each other despite fighting just before class.
Lucy stared at her desk, not wanting to be rude by staring at the cute boy who was pulling out the seat right next to her. Strangely enough, the air warmed up around him as if he was a portable heater with legs.
Aquarius cleared her throat, signaling for class to begin. As the professor went over the syllabus, Lucy released a quiet breath and began to write in her journal again, working on her story. She could do without listening to the syllabus, they were all the same.
Natsu suppressed a groan, bored out of his mind but knowing that he couldn't make his feelings apparent, lest he want their demonic professor to assault him with another marker. He hated that it was his turn to go back to school. Some people, like Erza and Levy, couldn't wait for the cycle to rotate so that they could go to school. He, on the other hand, hated it.
It was a boring, coma-inducing waste of time.
The only reason he went was because he didn't have a choice. Their leader, Makarov, argued that in order to keep up with the ever-progressing times, some of them would have to go to school while the others stayed hidden. So, in order to always make sure that there were immortals enrolled that wouldn't be caught, they created a cycle system.
And Natsu's turn just so happened to be now.
Consciousness was escaping Natsu as Aquarius went over her attendance policy, and man was she ruthless. She only allowed students one excused absence before docking two percent off of students' final grades. Not that it really mattered in his case since grades weren't really important.
Having the feeling that Aquarius would strangle him if she caught him sleeping, Natsu tried his best to keep his eyes open. Everything was just so boring. Glancing to his left, he found the blonde sitting next to him writing extensive notes.
"What the hell could she be taking notes on?" Natsu wondered, resting his head in the palm of his hand. "It's just syllabus day. What a weirdo." He studied her writing closer, finding that it wasn't about class at all.
Elie the celestial mage dashed out of her apartment, tears clouding her vision and streaming down her cheeks as she ran. Yet no matter how fast her legs moved, there was no catching up to Haru, as he was already gone in the wind, the letter he left behind serving as a reminder that she was all alone.
"You can't leave me, idiot!" she called out, her words meeting no reply. "Don't you know I'll be lonely!?"
Natsu arched a brow.
"So she's writing a story?" he thought, his lips twitching upwards in a lazy smirk. He wasn't exactly the reading type, but with nothing else to do, he drowned himself in the writings of the stranger sitting next to him. And if he was being honest, it was actually quite interesting.
"Man, that Haru guy is an ass for leaving Elie."
Without him even realizing, the rest of class went by in a flash. Natsu frowned as the journal he'd been discreetly reading had shut closed. In the corner of his eye, he watched as the blonde shoved the journal into her bookbag before standing up. Her scent washed over him, a mixture of strawberries and honey.
As the girl turned to leave, the two made eye contact. Natsu's eyes widened a smidge at the sudden eye-contact, not having expected to be met with such big, chocolate-brown eyes. Warmth rose to his cheeks and he whirled his head away to hide it, not understanding his body's reactions to the girl.
Lucy's heart thumped loudly in her chest. The cute boy sitting next to her was looking at her and she couldn't help but feel some sort of validation from that. She knew that she was pretty, she wasn't ashamed to admit it. But the boy next to her was drop-dead gorgeous.
Before she could get caught ogling him, Lucy shook her head slightly and went on her way past him and out the door.
"So? How was your other class, Lu-chan?" Levy asked before bringing the straw to her lips and relishing in her mango smoothie.
Lucy shrugged. "It was boring, but I got the chance to work on my story so it wasn't a complete waste of time."
The petite girl rolled her eyes. "Tell me the interesting stuff! Were there any cute boys?"
Lucy flushed, thoughts of the pink-haired boy from earlier flashing in her head. "I-I guess there were a few."
"Did you talk to them?"
"Of course not! Math class isn't exactly a dating seminar, Levy-chan!"
Levy laughed. "I guess you're right. But it would be cool if you got close to one of them so that we could go on double dates!"
Lucy scoffed, crossing her arms. "As if your boyfriend would allow it. He avoids me like I'm the plague."
"Gajeel's just a little⦠hard to open up," the other girl said with a nervous chuckle. "But he'll come around eventually!"
"Whatever you say. Anyways, I better get going home now. It's our first day and yet I'm already slumped with homework thanks to my math professor," Lucy sighed. The two girls said their goodbyes, and the blonde began her journey back home.
Her friend's words replayed in her head.
"It would be cool if you got close to one of them so that we could go on double dates!"
Lucy wanted to laugh at the thought of having a boyfriend. Though she would never admit it to anyone, the girl was pretty unexperienced for someone that was living their fourth lifetime. Sure, she had held hands and kissed a certain boy before, but that was way back in her first lifetime and she hadn't gotten close to a boy since.
In truth, she avoided boys. She'd always been a hopeless romantic, picturing herself to meet her soulmate and grow up with them, one day having a family and growing old with them. Unfortunately, things weren't like a fairy tale for her. Either she would die and her partner would move on and she'd have to start anew, or they would die, leaving her alone. With reincarnation in her life, she didn't have a true soulmate like the rest.
Lucy wished there were others like her. Others that could reincarnate so that no matter how many times they died, they would still find their way to each other. Sure, she knew of one other person dealing with the same circumstance, but they weren't exactly close, though she was a nice girl that brought comfort knowing that she wasn't the only one.
Breathing a heavy sigh, Lucy unlocked the door to her apartment and entered the lonely home. Maybe one day in the future she would allow herself to indulge in other's company, even though it would bring nothing but pain. But for now, she was content on her own.
AN: Alright, so a few people have been wondering if Natsu and Lucy met in another life and the answer is no, as the title of this chapter implies, this is their very first time meeting! :)
ALSO, just as a warning, this story is going to be pretty dark with some heavy topics ahead. I'll post trigger warnings when necessary, but just thought that I should say in advance so that people can back out now if they feel they should! I know I typically write a bunch of happy, lighter stories but this one's different! (Will still have a happy ending tho.)
Thank you very much to the wonderful people that reviewed: Lucy the queenofstars, NaluPrincess, Rein Serenity, Lunar13, Lunacross777, MasterGildarts, Alexa60765, Tohka123, sassykitten1701, Mannyegb, KatanaNoNeko, stranger1999, Guest, Madabelle, FlameDragonHime, Juvia is my spirit animal, fairytaillif3, Mandapandaa, Nalulove, Soul Eater Maka. And thank you to those who followed/faved as well! :)
