Chapter 2: His Pink Hair

BEFORE

Her high school years one of the best of Lucy's entire life, and she cherished each day greatly.

The blonde grew up without a mother and a harsh father who didn't care about anything except his work. Meaning that she had grown up with a hard lifestyle that hadn't included many good years to begin with. That was until she ran away from home, and put herself into a public school while working to pay the rent of a new apartment, at only fifteen years old.

She had begun at Fairy Tail Academy for her first year of schooling, and that's where she established her friend group. That group consisted mainly of Natsu Dragneel, Erza Scarlet, the gorgeous red haired girl who could scare any boy half to death with a glare, and Gray Fullbuster, Natsu's childhood friend and semi rival he always fought with.

Those three were her happiness, her first actual friends. Of course there were others she met after, such as Levy McGarden, a fellow bookworm who later became Lucy's closest friend;Gajeel Redfox and Juvia Lockser who joined the school a little bit after Lucy. The boy, Gajeel, was known for his many piercings which he got away with despite being against dress code, and Juvia was known for her obsession over Gray. To say she had a crush on the poor guy was simply a major understatement.

Mirajane Strauss, her sister Lisanna, Cana Alberona, and many more were also many other names to add to the list. Nonetheless Lucy had found something most didn't find in school, a family.

Her close knit of friends were all she needed to help her through life, and they loved her way more than her own father had when she still lived in her old house.

The year she joined, the blonde girl and the pink haired boy had clicked after relentless obvious flirting for what seemed forever. All their friends could see the evident attraction between the two except for Natsu and Lucy themselves.

Eventually the two had discovered their feelings for one another were mutual when they'd fallen into a kiss and began dating immediately. Natsu wasn't one to formally ask a girl to date him, and she knew it very well. It was just understood that they were dating, and no one even bothered to question it.

How they acted during their time together was absolutely adorable to everyone. It was the perfect relationship that people dreamed of having.

Not that he would ever admit it to his friends, because Natsu had a masculine reputation he slightly tried to uphold. Although, he was just known for being a hot headed pyromaniac, so having a romantic sweet side known wouldn't do much damage anyways. If anything it would make him seem all the much sweeter.

Their relationship was one practically everyone envied. Lucy could need assistance with the most simplest task, and everyone knew she just had to call his name and he was there. That is if the two were ever apart in the first place. That alone was rare since the two were practically attached at the hip.

They had a balanced relationship. When one was dancing, laughing, and fighting with his friends she would laugh and stand to the side half amused by his antics. She was the calm when he was the chaos. Of course every time he'd get himself in trouble or bruised up badly in a battle she would always let out a few complains about his actions before patching his wounds up.

How he acted with her was different. She was a mostly tranquil writer who spent her days consumed in books, with a soft side for fashion. She had a lot of pride in her appearance, but she wasn't ever overconfident which always cause some embarrassing moments with wardrobe mishaps. Her bubbly personality allowed the young man to be able to joke and tease her for every one of her quirks he'd claim was weird.

"Lucy, I love you so much." Natsu had cooed, walking down the sidewalk with his girlfriend hand in hand, walking for their Sophomore class.

"I love you too, Natsu," Lucy giggled happily, "Now c'mon or we're going to be late for class." The couple squeezed each other's hand, continuing down their route to school.

Even though the hallways were packed with students of their large high school, it didn't matter to the two of them. They could be in the midst of a battle and not notice anything going on besides each other. In the moment Natsu and Lucy were together, hand in hand, gazing into each other's eyes;they were in their own utopian paradise of love.

As the two arrived at the main doors of the school, they hesitantly let go of each other's hands to face each other. "Bye Lucy, I'll see after first period. I'll walk you to your next class afterwards, love you." He told the slightly shorter girl with a wide grin. He had acted as if the two were having a final farewell, the class period only lasted forty-five minutes.

"Thank you Natsu," the blonde girl replied before getting on her tiptoes to peck his lips, "try not to set the chemistry lab aflame again please." She let out a light giggle with furred eyebrows, obviously aware that he would still end up catching something on fire despite her plea.

"I'll try, see you." He replied, giving her a light hug before separating to walk in the opposite to his class period.

Even then it hurt for the couple to be apart, because they were practically inseparable. They were the lovey dovey gooey couple with the cliche relationship you would see in movies, but they didn't care. No matter what anyone said, it was always Natsu and Lucy against the world.

"Lucy are you okay, what's the matter?" A voice called, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"What?" The blonde responded, dazed after her mind had gotten lost deep in thought remembering past memories. She took a listless glance around her to take in her surroundings, noticing she was standing in a walkway of a rowdy football stadium pregame. How could she have blanked out in such a busy boisterous place?

After seeing the hair color of the man she had past, her mind must have created a flashback that just about pulled her out of reality.

"I asked, if you were okay. When I came back, you were just standing here looking confused." Levy said with a concerned look on her face. Lucy was usually such a lively girl to be around, so seeing her with a bewildered expression was rare.

"Oh yeah, sorry. I just thought I saw someone." Lucy mumbled in reply, with a shake of her head, not wanting to explain her vivid thoughts.

"Who did you see?" Her blue haired friend inquired, curious who the girl had seen. Levy wasn't even sure a person existed that would have such a stunned look overtake the girl's face.

"I can tell you later, it's not important. Sorry…" She waved her off, turning back to the stairs. Her best friend didn't want to pry, because she knew if something was truly bothering Lucy she wouldn't hide it. They both trusted each other with their lives, much less secrets as well.

Not too long after they picked a spot and sat down did the game begin drawing their attention to the football field. Lucy's eyes zeroed in on the players and her gaze never strayed from other team, determined to find her target. The boy who had bumped into her was wearing the other team's colors, so she tried to see if it actually was him or if it was just her wild imagination. She hoped that she was wrong, but she couldn't know for sure from that distance. Nonetheless she wouldn't stop until she found out, one way or another.

Not until after the game ended did she get a clue. Magnolia State had won with 20 more points than the other team and Levy, of course, was ecstatic for them. Her voice cheering louder than anyone in the vicinity and Lucy cringed more than once when she'd inadvertently got an earful of Levy's boisterous yelling.

When they announced the winners the visiting team took off their helmets as well, disappointed with the results. Lucy immediately noticed him again, and only when he turned around, did she realize with increasing uneasiness, that it was indeed him.

"Lucy, you have that dazed look again. What's wrong?" The bluenette asked with much concern. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Natsu is on the opposite team, right there." She said pointing weakly across the way, voice cracking upon saying his name. She hadn't said his name in years, not even the thought of his name had entered her mind. So much nostalgia was in that name, so much pain and heartbreak that she'd dared not let those syllables even cross her mind.

"What? That can't be him… Oh, wait. Oh my gosh, it is Natsu!" Levy gasped, her hand covering her mouth in astonishment as she turned to face Lucy.

The blonde had a blank expression plastered across her face, even though so many feelings were turning in her heart and yet she knew this was only the beginning of what would be a painful experience.

A/N: I originally wrote this story a couple of years ago, so I already have a basic outline for the plot. However, the original included a pretty bad cliche idea, so I'm revising the chapters into a new idea I have. I'm actually pretty happy with how it's turning out so far, yet I currently don't have a beta reader anymore. If anyone knows someone I can talk with to help beta read my stories please PM me. I pride myself in my writing capabilities as I learn, but I do know I overlook quite a few mistakes a lot.

I'm not sure how frequent the updates will be for this story, but this fan fiction will probably get the most attention than the others. Don't forget to leave a review, I always respond and getting feedback always helps me gain the motivation to update. Thank you all for the support! :D