Chapter 2

"So Natsu, tell us how your last job with Lucy went," Erza sat at the table with cake in hand. Her armor clanked softly.

Natsu glared at her, chin resting on the table. "Lucy's mad at me."

"What did you expect?" Gray rolled his eyes, calmly pulling his shirt over his head and dropping it onto the ground behind him from his spot next to Natsu. "The guy got away because of you, didn't he?"

He grumbled and looked away.

Erza shook her head slowly, "You shouldn't fight with Lucy, Natsu. It throws off the entire balance of the guild to have two of its members with such discord between them."

"What are you talking about?" He scowled. "Me and Gray fight all of the time."

"Gray isn't Lucy," Erza took a bite of her cake and held her cheek in her hand, moaning gently. "Your fight with her won't be settled with an exchange of blows."

"That's right," Gray leaned on his elbow, pushing his folded pants across the table as he stared at the pink haired guy beside him. "You and I fight almost every day. It'd be weirder if we suddenly loved each other. But Lucy…" he glanced over his shoulder at the blonde slumped over the bar next to the guild master. Makarov was eying her in a sideways glance as he gulped from a draft of alcohol. Gray turned back to Natsu, "Lucy never gets mad. Especially not at you. You should make up quickly."

Natsu grumbled and crossed his arms on the table in front of his face, "Why?" he said half-heartedly. "I didn't do nothin' wrong."

"How long do you plan to fight with the boy?" Makarov asked, setting his draft onto the bar beside his hip.

"The guild doesn't feel the same with you two moping," Mirajane observed from the other side of the counter, drying off a glass with a white rag.

Lucy sighed and sat up slightly, holding her head in the palm of her left hand.

"Master…" she began. She bit her lip and then locked him with a serious stare, "Back in the Grand Magic Games… you chose me to be on a team with Gray, Erza, Natsu, and Wendy."

He nodded. "That I did."

"Why?" she looked away. "I understand Erza, Gray, and Natsu. They're strong. Unbelievably strong. I even understand Wendy because of her support magic and her obvious popularity with the judges… but… why me?"

Makarov gulped his drink.

"I mean…" Lucy rested her chin on her folded arms once more. "I was useless the entire games. And I knew I would be useless straight from the beginning. Why didn't you choose Elfman in my place from the start?"

"Tell me something, Lucy," Makarov leaned on his knee and stared intently. "Do you think you're useless?"

"I just said I did," she murmured dejectedly. "I can't fight without my keys. Even with them, I can't complete a simple job. A celestial spirit is only as strong as the mage that summoned him. And I'm too weak to do them any justice."

Makarov nodded quietly.

"I just wish that I was as strong as everyone else," she whispered. "I want to be able to protect them for once."

Mirajane set the glass down and picked up another, her usually smiling face was serious.

"Listen up," Makarov said, drawing both of their attentions. He downed the rest of his drink and slammed the empty draft on the bar. He pointed at her, "You're strong. That's why I picked you for the Grand Magic Games. I can see that deep down inside of you, you have just as much potential as every one of these brats scurrying around here." He nodded and crossed his arms over his chest. "You just haven't had the chance to prove it yet."

"I've had plenty of chances," Lucy sat up with a sigh. "But—"

"They always ruin it for you, don't they?" he glanced at her.

"What?"

"The others. Your team."

She looked away.

"I want you to think about what makes each and every one of them so powerful. Think of Gray," they stared at the nearly naked boy laughing and punching Natsu on the shoulder as he pouted. "That boy had his master's training pounded into him at a very young age. He went through incredible exercises in freezing weather, and he watched as his master died protecting him."

Gray, seeming to feel their stare, turned in his seat. He caught their eyes and delivered a grin and a wink.

"He and Lyon are Ur's only students. He has her heart and sacrifice fueling his power today. He needs to do his best always so that her name is never soiled," Makarov said. "He gets his power from the love he feels for his precious master, even though she's been gone for years."

Lucy gulped. She had never thought about Gray's origin of power before. He was just strong and he continued to grow stronger and stronger since she first met him. That was just a fact.

"Look at Erza," Makarov went on. "A child of poverty. She experienced more torture before her twelfth year than most of us have experienced in our entire lives, myself included," he stroked his mustache. "Since the beginning she has lived by her code. Her ideals of peace and order. The ideals she saw here in this guild. Her power is fueled by her belief that she was given her strength for a reason. That reason being to protect this world. To rid it of the evil that she had seen from such an early age."

Erza finished off her cake and hugged herself with a look of pure joy on her face. She pointed her fork at Natsu and spoke, enticing an angry shout from him.

"Now," Makarov sighed, smiling ruefully. "Look at Natsu."

Fire burst from his mouth as he shook his fists over his head, challenging the others at the table.

"He has lost something precious to him. Igneel, his father, his only friend for the first years of his life."

Lucy watched him quietly as he and Gray faced off, foreheads nearly touching as they taunted each other.

"Family is the single most important thing to that boy. He views every one of his friends and comrades as his family. And when he sees one of them is in the slightest bit of danger, his power increases tenfold."

"A hundredfold," Lucy corrected, mouth curving up in a smile.

"That's right," Makarov matched her smile. Erza stood and grabbed both Natsu and Gray by the ear and yanked them back down to the table. She lectured them shortly before releasing them and crossing her arms over her chest. Natsu and Gray sat up, rubbing their ears with scowls.

"What I'm saying is," Makarov cleared his throat. "Everyone's power stems from some deeper motive. I believe you have incredible power inside you. Power fueled by your love of family, your ideals of peace and forgiveness, and your desire to make your mother and father proud. I also believe that you've never had the chance to prove this power exists with those three always beating you to the punch," he pushed his draft towards Mirajane, who filled it with a soft smile on her face.

Lucy smiled, "So what you're saying is that they are stealing my thunder."

"Exactly."

She turned in her seat to face the bar once more. "Still. Even if I can never unlock my true potential… it's a warm feeling, having their strength always surrounding me." She twirled a lock of blonde hair absently, "It's like a constant hug. I feel safe inside it, knowing they'd lay down their lives to protect me, and that I would do the same for them."

"Sounds like you've figured it all out," Mirajane said sweetly.

"Yeah…" her cheeks reddened. "I think I have."

"Natsu, you need to be more aware of Lucy's feelings," Erza nodded sternly. "She had an idea, and she had the chance to fulfill that idea and be the hero for once, and you ruined it for her. You should be ashamed of yourself."

"Yeah, man," Gray said. "It's all your fault he got away after all. She probably would've caught the guy if you didn't go off."

"It's not my fault!" Natsu argued. He crossed his arms and looked away. "She was getting all close and friendly to him, sittin' on his lap and all, and I just…" he pouted. "Even I could see from my hiding spot that she was terrified out of her wits. And when I saw her start to panic a little… well I didn't like that look on her. That's all there is to it."

Erza and Gray exchanged a look. They grinned sneakily.

"Lucy's my friend," Natsu continued. "And what kind of friend would I be if I just let her look that scared?"

"Seems like you love her very much," Erza said casually.

"Of course I do!" he jerked his head to her. "C-Cause she's my friend! Duh! You know you would've felt the same way!" he looked at the laughing Gray. "And you too! Wouldn't you?"

Erza nodded slowly, "It's true. I probably wouldn't have let Lucy even get to the guy's lap before I beat the heathen to a pulp."

"Yeah, Natsu," Gray said. "I never would've let her take such a risk. Lucy shouldn't have to risk her body just to get some perp. You should've been a little more responsible."

"Shut up!" he jumped to his feet. "You guys are idiots! I protected her just fine so you can just eat my ashes!"

He whirled around at the same time Lucy turned on her stool.

"Lucy!"

"Natsu!"

They each paused as slow smiles crept over their faces. Again, they said simultaneously,

"Sorry!"

Lucy jumped off of her stool and Natsu stepped over his bench.

"I shouldn't have gotten mad at you for the guy getting away."

"I shouldn't have screwed up your plan."

They met in the center of the guild hall and made a straight line for the quest board.

"Can we go on a non-combat related job this time?" Lucy asked as they stood together to browse the single loose sheets of paper hanging on the cork board.

"Whatever you want, Lucy," Natsu said, arms crossed over his chest. "Maybe we can work in Yajima's restaurant again."

"You always eat all of the food before it gets to the customer!" Lucy laughed.

"Yeah, free meal! That's why I want to work there again!" He grinned mischievously down at her.

Mirajane watched Makarov smile over his draft discreetly.

"You did well, Master," she said, surprising a grunt out of him. "Your pep talks never fail."

"Shut up," he muttered, hiding his smile behind his glass.