Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of the amazing characters that you recognize in this story.
Chapter 2
"Carla is the best." Happy sighed while floating blissfully alongside Natsu. "I can't believe she finally accepted my fish! Tomorrow I will give her a dozen fish so that she knows how happy I am." the little exceed exclaimed.
"Maybe you should just stick to one fish at a time, little buddy. It did take quite sometime for her to accept just one fish from you. Besides, where would you get 12 fish from? We are all out of them at the house." Natsu pointed out as they made their way down the cobble stone streets of Magnolia on their way home to pack for their mission.
"Oh! I would just go raid Lucy's freezer. She has a whole stock of fish hidden in there that she thinks I don't know about but she can't fool my nose!" proclaimed Happy, sticking his nose up in the air. Then looking down at Natsu he asked "Speaking of Lucy, is it just me or is she being more of a weirdo than usual?"
Natsu peered back at Happy thinking about the question he just proposed. It was true; Lucy had been acting peculiar lately. What with her lack of smiles, being strangely quiet (heck, she hadn't even yelled at him yesterday for almost hitting her during his brawl with Gray) and now she was turning down a perfectly good job. Itdefinitely was not just the cat's imagination.
"No, it's not just you. Somethin's up with her. It's like Lucy hasn't been Lucy since we took that last mission in Dardenfield..." Natsu walked on with with his hands behind his head, looking up at the night sky. It was funny, before Lucy, Natsu hadn't really paid much attention to the stars and their constellations. Now though, he would look overhead and try to pick out Lucy's friends from among the other clusters of bright shining orbs. Huh. Tonight he could make out Virgo looking down on them.
"Maybe she ate something bad, like a mushroom or some other kind of mutating fungus... Oh no! Lucy isn't gonna turn into a weird monster and eat us is she?!" Leave it to Happy to come to that conclusion.
Laughing, Natsu smiled to his little blue pal saying, "Nah, if anything she would probably just mope around and complain about how she will never get a boyfriend now that she is turning into a monster."
The two trekked on through the streets until the were underneath Lucy's window.
Never one to pass up an opportunity to sneak into the cozy apartment, Natsu had Happy lift him up to the windows ledge.
It was dark inside and when the dragon-slayer attempted to push open his personal entryway, he found that it wouldn't budge. What the hell. Lucy never locks this window. Peering into the darkness of her bedroom, he searched for any trace of his blonde partner. Nothing. Even her scent was stale, indicating that she had not been home since this morning. Where is she?
"Maybe she is visiting Levy at Fairy Hills." Happy suggested at Natsu's unspoken question.
"Yeah, maybe." Natsu took one last look at the empty room before jumping back down to the road. "Let's get home and pack. We can come by tomorrow morning to see Lucy before we head out."
"Aye, sir!"
Lucy had been wandering around Magnolia for hours with no particular destination. She left the guild hall earlier that day in order to distance herself from Natsu and the rest of her companions, thinking that if she did, she could also distance herself from her ever moredistressing thoughts.
So far, it wasn't working.
I can't go home yet. It would only be a matter of time before someone barges in. Lucy paused in her walking, thinking about her teammates. All of them were strong. Not just in power but in personality, in will, and in loyalty. It was that loyalty that saved Lucy time and time again. It was also that loyalty that would end up getting them hurt one day, all because Lucy was lacking. Heh. That is putting it mildly. Lucy thought cynically to herself.
She looked down at her belt where her keys hung shimmering in the lamplight. Absolutely useless. That's what she was without her keys. Not for the first time had she thought about her glaring weakness in magical strength. As a mage using holder type magic, she had to always rely on someone else to fight her battles. She was not physically strong like Erza, nor did she possess the magical strength of Gray or Natsu. Even Wendy had her own power in which to face her foes head-on.
As a celestial mage, she could only channel her magic into her keys. Her spirits would draw from her strength to add it to their own. The stronger her wizards magic, the stronger the spirit became. She couldn't help but think about how many times she had run out of magic prematurely during a fight. Without her spirits, she was left to stand behind her friends while she looked on.
Frustration bubbled up within her as she recalled the mission in Dardenfield. Rescued again, like some damn princess who can't take care of herself. Her spirits weren't even been able to help her out this time as her keys had been easily taken from her. Not for the first time had she wished for a secondary magic like Requip, so that she at least had a means to store her keys and not risk the chance of them falling into someone else's hands.
Her frustration gave way to guilt as she thought more about her keys. Aquarius was currently not speaking to her for having her gate key so easily taken away by the enemy. Not that Lucy blamed her. It was her responsibility to protect the keys in her possession and she couldn't even do such a simple thing. Maybe...
Her thoughts were interrupted when her shoulder was jostled. So wrapped up in her thoughts, Lucy failed to notice that she had come to a complete stop right in front of a doorway with patrons attempting to get inside the establishment. Looking about for the first time in her musings, Lucy noticed that it had turned into night. She also noticed that she was in a slightly shadier part of town. Not anything extreme like the red light districts that could be found in bigger cities but certainly not the classiest of places. Turning to make her way back towards home, Lucy found herself face-to-face with the guilds resident pervert, Bickslow.
"Hey Cheerleader! What are you doing here? Isn't it past your bedtime?" This was followed by a repetition of "Cheerleader! Cheerleader!" by his babies who floated close behind.
"For the last time, I am not a cheerleader nor am I a cosplayer. Where the heck do you get that shit from?" she grumbled out, slight blush of embarrassment on her cheeks. "Also, I am not a child. I am perfectly capable of going wherever I want, whenever I want."
Bickslow just laughed, tongue lolling out of his mouth, per usual.
"Well, don't let me stop you, though, would you mind moving from in front of the door? Some of us would like to start having some fun. Unless, you want to join in that is." he said nodding his head at the door she had been playing guard in front of.
It took Lucy a moment to process what he said. Fun? What was that anyway? She had thought fun was hanging out with her team at the guildhall, going on missions, and all of the antics that came along with being best friends with the dragon-slayer. The thing was, none of that was fun nowadays. Nothing seemed to make her happy. Her thoughts constantly stayed wrapped up in not belonging anymore… or was it not belonging ever?
Bickslow moved past her and open the door to the bar and looking back at her said "you coming Cosplayer?"
The next morning saw an anxious Natsu busting through the guild's doors screaming "Lucy!" Everyone paused what they were doing to look at him.
"She's not here, flame brain." the ice mage stated as with as much enthusiasm as an iceberg. "Check her house. You know she has been spending more time there lately than here." Which begs the question "why" he pondered briefly.
Disquieted Natsu ran a hand through his hair. "Already been there. She hasn't been home since yesterday morning."
Gray thought for a moment before replying with "Check with Mira. She always seems to know what's going on. Maybe she took a solo job."
"As Natsu made his way to speak with the barmaid, he was interrupted by the guildhall doors opening. Turning around quickly, he waited for the person to step through and into the hall, hopeful that it was Lucy. Disappointment set in as Bickslow strode forward.
Natsu was about to turn away and continue on his way to speak to the barmaid when a sudden scent caught his attention. Lucy. He tried to look past the seith mage, seeing if the celestial wizard was behind him but saw nothing except air. Quirking a hidden eyebrow at this behavior, Bickslow sidestepped the fire eater. He was almost to the bar when he felt a hand on his arm stop him. Looking down, he saw it was Natsu that had grabbed him.
Mira noticed this interaction. It was rare for anyone other than the Thunder Legion to talk to Bickslow, let alone manhandle him. Stepping closer to the pair she discreetly listened in, ready to intervene if needed.
"Why the hell do you smell like Lucy?" Natsu demanded not so quietly.
Mira balked at this, her thoughts flying a mile a minute.
Removing his arm from Natsu's grasp, Bickslow let a slow but big smile spread across his face. "Because, she was with me all night."
CRASH
Multiple people throughout the hall dropped plates and mugs (and in the case of happy, a fish) at this declaration.
"Oh my." Mira gasped out.
"What do you mean she was with you all night? You two aren't really even friends. Why would she do that?" The confusion on Natsu's face was mirrored on the faces of others in the guildhall. A few, however, gave each other knowing looks.
"Sorry pal, but that is between me and her. With that Bickslow continued on his way to the bar with his babies chanting "Me and her. Me and her." behind him.
Right as Natsu started to ignite his fist to pound some answers out of the guy the guild doors opened once more, this time revealing Lisanna, all packed and ready for their journey.
As she stepped in, the takeover mage noticed the tense atmosphere around everyone. Natsu had been distracted from the seith mage just long enough for Gray to step up beside him and place a restraining hand on his shoulder.
"Seriously fire breath, you can't just go around punching your guild mates lights out for answers. Go head out on your mission. I will see what answers I can get out of him while you're gone. Plus, it looks like Lisanna is ready to get going anyway."
Looking beyond gray, he saw his childhood friend standing by the doors, peering at him with a worried expression. Seeing his attention now on her, the white-haired mage asked "Is everything alright?"
Glancing back towards Gray, who nodded at him, Natsu ground out a "Yes." and with a final look at the bar, made his way towards the door.
"Hey, Ice Princess! Keep an eye out for Lucy. I should be back in a week. We will talk when I get home." and with that Natsu tugged Lisanna out of the hall and towards the train station with Happy trailing behind.
