(FYI: Just so you know, the characters are in their post-time skip attire. I typically don't stick any fanfic setting in the middle of the canon plot of a fandom; it's a pain in the neck trying to make it work with the official storyline. So if you want/don't know, you can look up their post-time skip appearance to better visualize this story.)
Man, how could I say no to you guys after all your support? Thanks to you, this is now a full-fledged story, and the first official chapter is now up! Thank you all for your reviews, and I hope you like what I have cooked up for you here!
Oh, and WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD. Yeah, just warning ya.
This here is my first attempt at Lucy. I hope it satisfies! Please forgive me for this being so short (especially after that prologue…)!
Ch. 1: Insult to Injury
To say that there was something wrong with Natsu was an understatement.
I mean, sure, he's had a lot to deal with ever since I first joined the guild, but I'd never seen him like this before – not even when it came to Lisanna way back when we didn't realize that she'd never been dead. Whenever a problem came up, he'd usually take it head on – and beat it up if it was possible. He never doubted himself, not even once, and looked at everything with his simple yet optimistic nature.
But ever since we came back from that failed job, he'd been acting strange – quiet and distant, like he had a lot on his mind or something. I wondered if it had something to do with the way he'd just passed out on us while we were still in the building – he'd mentioned a gross feeling in his chest a couple minutes before he suddenly collapsed, and he'd looked like he was having some sort of nightmare. Maybe something in that nightmare was what was making him act so strangely? I was so confused.
It's been three days since then, and it didn't look like he was improving. Just the day before he stopped coming out on jobs with us, saying that he "had other stuff to do", and he still wouldn't explain anything. I hadn't seen Happy with him for that entire time, either, and I was beginning to worry that maybe the cat ran away…or Natsu chased him off or abandoned him somewhere. Considering his strange behavior now, it wasn't too big of a stretch. I still didn't get why Natsu was acting this way. It made no sense to me.
And today, he was sitting off at a far table by himself, staring into space. A cup of fire sat in front of him untouched. None of us had the nerve to go and talk to him yet – not even Erza.
Erza Scarlet was the strongest female wizard in all of Fairy Tail, and she was really pretty too – her long hair was as beautiful as her name described. She constantly wore armor as her regular outfit, and she was as tough and strict as they came. Even Natsu and Gray, the guild's top two troublemakers and two of our most powerful wizards, were afraid of her.
She got the story of the happenings of the previous days from us once she came back from her solo S-class quest the day after we failed in our mission. She insisted on talking to Natsu in private, probably to beat some answers out of him (she's got some strange questioning methods, to be sure), but from what I could tell a bit after that, she hadn't succeeded – which astounded me, to be frank. Practically everyone in the guild was subservient to her in some way, shape, or form, especially Natsu and Gray. I didn't know what had happened between the two in their private discussion, and Erza refused to let on, but she did look a bit shaken up afterwards.
Even Gray had tried to get Natsu to come out of his shell by throwing all kinds of insults his way and trying to provoke him by attacking him on a couple occasions, but not even that worked. The hothead who used to always be ready for a fight either brushed him off or ignored him completely. One time Gray made to punch him in the face, Natsu just dodged it like it was nothing and just continued to go on his way. The second time he tried, Natsu had caught his fist and thrown him across the guild hall before walking out on us without so much as a word.
In short, Natsu just flat out refused to talk to anyone in the guild for an extended amount of time – not even Master Makarov. The most any of us got out of him was a quick greeting before he managed to escape us.
We couldn't let this go on much longer. If Natsu refused to work with us, we'd lose an invaluable asset to our team and our friend. We had to get him to talk to us somehow, but we had no clue what was wrong so we had no idea what course of action we should actually take.
The only lead we had was the place where all this strangeness started – the dark guild that we'd destroyed. We opted to go back there the first chance we got, but at the moment there was a more pressing matter at hand.
"If Happy was the one who first noticed the smell, we're going to need his help," Erza was saying with a business-like tone. "Not to mention he could be in some sort of danger since Natsu isn't with him. We have to make finding Happy our top priority. Understand?"
Gray and I nodded in confirmation. We would do whatever it took to help find Happy – and somehow get Natsu to talk to us again and tell us everything about what was going on with him.
We had to succeed. For their sake.
Surprisingly, finding Happy was the easy part.
The place that we decided to look was around Natsu's house. We figured that if Happy had been banned from entering the house for whatever reason, he'd still stick around at the very least because he had nowhere else to go – or maybe he just decided to stay here in order to at least keep an eye on Natsu. So it wouldn't hurt to at least check it out.
As for me, I've only been here once before. Natsu and Happy lived in a one-story stone-brick house in a lightly-forested area with a winding path leading to the wooden front door. A sign etched with their names stood in front of the house in case anyone wanted to find them. All in all, a charming place…at least until you looked inside.
Long story short: it is a glorified garbage can. Sorry, I really don't want to think about the details right now. All I know is that it's practically a miracle how those two never got sick from their horrible sanitation habits.
The three of us met in from of the house. As we did, there was something that we noticed.
"It's really quiet," I noted, looking around. "And there doesn't seem to be anybody here…"
"That's weird," Gray muttered as he scratched his head. "Natsu left the guild before we did, right? He should be here of all places if he doesn't want to talk to us, because otherwise he'd be crashing at Lucy's place right now."
"Shut up, Gray," I snapped, feeling a bit flustered. "And besides, that was the first place we checked, and that very fact kind of leaves a sour taste in my mouth, you know!"
"Enough, you two," Erza ordered us in a firm voice. "It may not seem like they're here, but we should take a look around anyway. You never know what we might miss."
Gray waved a hand dismissively. "Alright, alright. Let's get this done."
We split up to search. While Erza and Gray took the left and right of the house, I took the back. If anything, it was much wilder than the front – there was a massive tangle of branches surrounding the property and random patches of dirt in the field of ankle-high grass. Trash littered the property, ranging from food bowls to debris to broken branches. There was also a set of horizontal bars near the back wall of the building that were rusted and dented (presumably from Natsu's overdone workouts, because he was way stronger than he actually looked). But I still couldn't see any sign of life here, either.
I strained my senses as hard as I could. I scanned the area minutely, tried picking up every sound in the surroundings, and felt for anything strange on the ground – anything out of the ordinary would do. I slowly circled the property while avoiding potential hazards, but there was still nothing.
It was now or never.
"Happy!" I called into the tangled mass of trees. "Are you here?! Come on out! It's me, Lucy! Where are you?!"
My voiced echoed throughout the area, but I still couldn't hear anything in response. I hadn't heard anything from Gray or Erza, either…and I sort of doubted that Natsu was around with the way he'd been acting.
Suddenly, I heard a rustling of leaves to my right. I turned on the spot in that direction, tense and alert in case it was an enemy, but as alert as I was, I couldn't brace myself for a blue cat suddenly flying into my chest.
"Lucy!" he wailed as he buried his face into my top. "Thank goodness! I was so lonely!"
Once I got over the shock of having a flying cat tackle-hug me, I raised my hands to support and comfort him. "Well, I'm just glad you're okay," I said soothingly, patting his blue head. "But besides that, what were you doing out here all alone?"
Happy sniffled, his tail drooping. "I was…I was waiting for Natsu. I wanted him to come and find me…but he never did. It's been ages…"
I gasped in shock. "Happy," I began, horrified. "Just how long were you –?"
He shook his head. "I don't know," he said miserably. "But it did get dark twice, and I had to sleep under the trees. Natsu never came back."
Two nights…that meant he'd been stuck outside for three days!
"Happy, you could've waited inside the house for him!" I protested. "Why were you just sitting outside like this?"
He didn't answer me, simply curled against my arm with tears streaming from his eyes. Frustration and rage built up inside my chest, and my arms tensed. This wasn't right. No matter what was going on, Natsu cared about Happy like family! Why would he abandon his family like that?! Petty arguments were one thing, but this was crossing the line!
I gritted my teeth. "That idiot," I muttered angrily. "He's going to pay!"
"Lucy…" Happy's oddly pleading voice snapped me out of it. "Don't be hard on him, okay? Please?"
I couldn't believe my ears. "Happy…but he –"
"Natsu would never leave me like that!" Happy insisted sharply as he pulled away and floated defiantly in front of me, making me flinch in surprise. "So that's not him! That's how I know he's not him! Something strange happened to Natsu to make him this way, so don't get mad at him! It's somebody else's fault!"
The minute he finished his rant and I saw Happy's defiant expression, I felt a pang of guilt shoot through me several times over. Of course; there was no way Natsu could be the one abandoning Happy like this. Whatever had made him pass out back at that dark guild – that had to be the real culprit. That strange magic – if I could even call it that – had changed him, turning him into a reclusive, silent, close-mouthed stranger.
I lowered my head with a sad smile. "Sorry about that, Happy," I apologized quietly. "I never should've doubted Natsu like that. He'd never do something like this, huh?"
Happy nodded confidently and raised a paw. "Yep, that's right! I'll bet that he's fighting whatever's messing with him as we speak! He'll definitely win!"
"Yeah, you're right!" I agreed enthusiastically. "He'll beat it to a pulp, and Natsu will come back safe and sound!"
"Aye!" Happy piped jovially.
No matter what, whoever or whatever it was, they were going to pay for doing this to our friend and ally. I swore it in the name of our precious guild.
I laughed a bit, and then sighed wearily. "Let's go back and meet with Erza and Gray," I suggested. "They're looking for you right now, too, and we should tell them you're okay."
"Good idea," he agreed.
I took Happy into my arms and walked in the direction of the front of the house. We hadn't gone five steps before I saw that Erza and Gray were running to meet us before we could get back to the front. They must've heard our conversation and come to check things out.
But their expressions weren't what I was expecting. Instead of relief, it was panic, and they had some unexpected company in the form of a little girl with blue hair and a white cat wearing the same expressions – Wendy and Carla! When did they get here?
"Wendy!" I cried out in surprise as they reached us. "And Carla too! What are you doing here?"
Wendy and the others skidded into a halt once they reached us and Wendy exclaimed, "Lucy! Please, you have to come back to the guild right away!"
"Why; did something happen?"
Wendy's eyes began to water. "It – it's Natsu! He came back to the guild hall and officially quit!"
I almost dropped Happy in response, and I managed to stutter, "H-he did what?!"
"He's left the guild!" Carla elaborated feverishly. "He even erased his guild mark in front of everyone!"
My hands shook. There was no way that could be true. I mean, acting standoffish and quiet was one thing, but straight-up quitting? What the heck was going on? It was beyond a shadow of a doubt – that definitely couldn't have been Natsu. He'd been in that guild ever since he was little and always fought to near-death protecting it. There was no way he'd abandon us!
"Where is he now?!" I asked desperately.
"Wendy said that he was gone before anyone could follow," Erza said stiffly. Her crossed arms were tense. "Whatever is going on, it can't be good. Let's call off the trip to the dark guild for now. We need to get back quickly and devise some strategy in order to find Natsu and bring him back."
To our major surprise, Natsu was at the guild when we got back. And apparently, it was the same for the rest of the guild.
"W-wait a minute!" I spluttered in shock. "Wendy, I – I thought that you said that he left the guild!"
Wendy's brown eyes were just as wide as mine. "He did! I – I don't understand what's going on, either!"
Happy simply stood there staring at his old friend. "Natsu…"
Natsu was standing in the middle of our guild hall with his back to us. Every eye in the guild was trained on him. Everyone was giving him a ten-foot berth. I could feel the tension in the air; it was as if everyone here was dying to jump on him, but something huge was holding them back. Even I had to keep my legs in check once I laid eyes on him. Erza had to practically handcuff and restrain Gray to keep him from jumping on Natsu.
"Stay calm, Gray," Erza warned him severely. "Don't do anything stupid."
"STAY CALM?!" he exploded as he continued to fight fruitlessly against Erza's grip. "HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO STAY CALM?! WHAT THE HECK IS THIS IDIOT THINKING, TRYING TO LEAVE THE GUILD LIKE THIS LIKE IT'LL SOLVE ANYTHING?! HE WON'T TELL US CRAP ABOUT WHAT'S GOING ON WITH HIM, AND YOU EXPECT ME TO LET THAT GO SO EASILY?! THAT'S BULLSHIT!"
His last word echoed through the hall, but there was no response from anyone. No one disagreed with him on that point. Gray had put it plainly and crudely: what Natsu was doing was unexplainable. Incomprehensible. Unforgivable. His actions were completely off the scale of normality and reality, and therefore unacceptable.
I wasn't concerned with the rest of the guild, though. All my attention was on Natsu's back, and his reaction to Gray's tirade. Was he going to take this rant as another grain of salt? Or was he going to explode and yell back like he usually did?
His response was expected, but upsetting.
"Shut up, Gray," he said flatly without turning around. "You're being annoying."
That remark was enough to burn out Gray's jets. He could do nothing but glower at Natsu without saying a word.
"Natsu," Erza addressed him at last, each syllable testing her restraint, "you have to tell us what's going on. Why are you doing this? What is happening? And most importantly…" Erza balled her fists and glared at his back viciously. "Why are you leaving Fairy Tail? Why are you leaving your family?! Answer me, Natsu!"
I flinched despite myself at her tone. I'd never seen her so incensed before, and considering everything that she'd had to endure, that was definitely saying something.
Natsu was unfazed. "Tch, I don't need to tell you guys anything," he responded coldly, his back still to us. "I shouldn't need to. If you really are my family, you should know what's going on, shouldn't you?"
"Don't you remember what the Master told us?! We can't share everything –"
"But we can still share something, right?" Natsu interrupted harshly, prompting Erza to take a step back in surprise. "I know we can't share everything completely. But we still share at least a bit, right? I've already given away everything that I could, and what did you guys pick up?" He lowered his head. "Might as well've been nothing. You guys might've picked up a couple signs, sure. But you didn't do anything to help. You can't expect me to stay quiet about something like that."
"You barely even gave us a chance to figure anything out!" Gray yelled furiously. "We're your friends, not your miracle workers, wise guy! You may as well tell us what's going on right now while you're still talking; it'll save a whole lot of time and energy!"
Natsu didn't reply right away. When I lowered my gaze, I noticed that his clenched fists were shaking.
"If I didn't say anything to you guys before, why would I do it now?" he inquired tersely as I looked back up. His voice was shaking. "Why do you think I'm doing this, anyway? To play guessing games?" He paused to take a deep breath to try and steady his words, but it didn't work very well. His next words were just as breathless as before. He was doing his best to keep an emotion at bay. "You know me, don't you? If I have a problem, I usually tell it to you straight. Why do you think I'm not doing that this time? Huh?"
Erza gritted her teeth in frustration, but didn't say a word. I guess she realized that not even she could intimidate Natsu into spilling anything this time around.
This whole time I was watching my friends trying desperately to prying some answers out of him, but I couldn't bring myself to raise my voice. With the way Natsu was now…I was afraid of what he'd do to me if I argued with him. I didn't want to find out. There was so much I wanted to say, but my nerves kept beating down my resolve and kept me silent and voiceless.
"Well, maybe we'd know that if you told us," Gray spat reproachfully. "So spill it. It doesn't matter what happens; you think we're just gonna sit back and let you leave?"
"No!" Natsu exclaimed suddenly. For the first time in our conversation, I heard distinct panic in his voice. I couldn't see very well because his back was still turned to us, but Natsu raised his hands to his chest as he shivered like he had a sudden case of hypothermia. His fortification had finally cracked under our pressuring. "Stop it. You gotta understand. I can't tell you anything; I can't! I don't wanna hurt you guys; don't make me say it! Please, I'm begging you!"
We were all taken aback by this sudden change of behavior. Erza stepped forward urgently and demanded, "What are you talking about?! Why would you ever hurt us?! You'd never do that! Just tell us what's going on!"
"I told you; I can't!" he screamed half in panic and half in frustration as he doubled over still clutching his chest. "Just leave me alone already! Go away!"
Happy looked terrified. "Natsu!" he cried fearfully, moving to rush forward and meet his friend.
"Don't come near me!" Natsu bellowed as he turned on his heel to face us. His expression was that of a cornered animal's – it was so feral and wild that it stopped Happy in his tracks.
The little cat looked like he was about to cry. "Natsu…"
"I'm warning you," Natsu wheezed lividly, glaring at us like we were the enemy. The calm façade that he'd been showing earlier was all but nonexistent now. "Stay away from me! You'll be sorry!"
I tried unsuccessfully to swallow the lump in my throat, and I felt my eyes sting with the slightest hint of tears. I couldn't stand seeing my friend like this. This was wrong. All wrong! I couldn't understand! I had to do something, anything to help him…but what could someone weak like me do in this situation?
Before I could get a hold of myself, I felt the unmistakable heat of fire warm up my entire body for an instant before it exploded.
I am gonna be real evil with cliffhangers in this story. I can just tell.
…Anyway.
Pfft, Lucy sounds like a freaking teleprompter here. Bo-ring! I guess it's because I always see her as the smart-sounding one of the group for some reason. Sorry if she was dull to read through; I'm not good with girl characters. Heheh…
Anyway, now that Natsu and Lucy are down, I'd like to know which other two characters you guys want to see narrate in this story. I'm only having four narrators in this story maximum ('Cause there are only going to be a few more chapters in this story. Oops! I never did say that this story would be long!), so choose well! I've set up a poll in order to make a decision, so please go and vote! You guys'd be helping a lot! :)
Hope you enjoyed!