"HE WHAT!?" everyone yelled out in unison at the guild. "Lu-chan! I'm so sorry!" Levy says with tears prickling at the corner of her eyes, as she gives Lucy a well needed hug. "Seriously, I always knew he was an idiot but I didn't think that many ashes flew out of his head." Gray proclaims nonchalantly from across the table. "Gray-sama wouldn't leave Juvia like that would he!?" Juvia begs at Gray with worried eyes. Gray looks at her with a disheveled look and a sweat-drop, "uh...yeah..sure" he replies. "JUVIA DOESN'T KNOW WHAT TO THINK OF THAT!" she cries as waterfalls spill from her eyes. Chewing on a piece of metal nearby, Gajeel thinks to himself, "Tch, Salamander is off training somewhere and i'm stuck here gettin' nothin' done!" "If you're a man, don't leave a letter!" Elfman yells. With a sweat-drop Lissanna, replies, "Elf-niichan I don't know what that means." Re-directing her attention, "Still, it's not like Natsu to leave like that, something must be going on." Mira sighs to herself at the bar, "Sometimes I wonder about you, Natsu." Shaking her head in the process. "He'll come around." Cana says, while chugging a barrel of booze.
"I don't-EEP!" Lucy squeeks as a sword flies through the table she was sitting at. Erza, clad in a malicious aura, causing Gray, whom has now lost his shirt, to subconsciously cling to a nearby Natsu out of habit and yell out, "I'm sorry! We weren't fighting!" Only to realize he was actually hugging Juvia who had hearts in her eyes and a glowing red face. "They llllllliiiiikkkkkeeee eachother!" Happy muses as Juvia, who's head is now steaming at this point passes out. "Oi, you alright?" Gray asks with a sweat-drop, mentally scolding himself for his mistake before Erza cuts back in, "Happy, which way did he go!?" Happy, rightfully frightened yells back, "I WAS ASLEEP-I DIDN'T SEE, I'M SORRY ERZA-SAMA! I THINK I HEAR CARLA, OR A FISH CALLING ME" as Happy attempts to fly away before getting pulled back by the tail by a furious Erza.
"Whatever's going on we have to have to have faith in him." Master Makarov says catching everyone's attention. "I've taught you all that when you leave those doors you must vow to return." Everyone nods solemnly. "Now, we all have things we need to be doing. Lucy, Happy, come see me." Lucy nods and looks at Levy, "Thanks Levy-chan, we'll talk later okay?" Levy nods in response and heads over to Gajeel. Lucy offers a knowing smile at this and picks up a dazed Happy, then proceeds to head to Master's office.
Sitting down, Master continues from earlier. "Now Lucy, from the beginning tell me all of the details you can remember since you saw him last." Lucy nods and re-counts the events from the previous night, opting to leave out certain specifics that are sensitive to her, such who was on the photo, simply referring to is as a priceless family heirloom. Happy shakes his head, "Honestly, I tell him all the time to look first-BEFORE jumping through Lushee's window!" Which earns him a dirty look from Lucy. Master coughs, then asks Happy for his side of the story after thinking to himself, "When is that boy ever going to learn?" Inwardly sighing to himself.
"Well, after eating some fish I got from Mira.." Happy stops for a moment to drool thinking about the fish with sparkles in his eyes. After a cough from Lucy him breaks out of it and continues on, "I went home and Natsu was laying in his hammock staring at the ceiling." Lucy's face saddens and tears well up a little as she thinks to herself, "Natsu.." Happy continues, "I asked him what he was doing and he said he was thinking." Master rubs cuffs his chin for a second before humming, "Hmm..that's dangerous" Happy replies, "That's what I said!" Lucy thinks, "Just how little do you think of him!?" Happy finishes, "After that I said goodnight and curled up in my usual spot, then when I woke up I found the letter and brought it to Lushee." Happy frowns as he finishes earning a comforting pat on the head from Lucy.
"From the sounds of it, he at least gave it some thought before leaving, instead of going on a whim somewhere." Master thinks out loud. "I'll reach out to some of my sources and see if we can come up with any sightings or hearings about him. In the meantime, you two should trust in him as a partner, fellow guild member, and mage of Fairy Tail." They both nod in response. "For the time being, when you go out on Missions make sure you team up with another group. I'll trust you two to figure that part out on your own. If you hear of anything or have any concerns come see me immediately." Lucy, still teary eyed says back, "Thank you Master, we will.." Master puts a hand on her shoulder and reassures her, "Natsu is strong, one way or another he'll make it back." She smiles and nods a thanks again before heading back into the guild hall with Happy.
"What are we doing to do Lushee?" Happy asks worriedly. Lucy scans the guild hall before replying, "I'm not sure Happy..maybe we should look in your guy's house. We might find a clue as to where he went?" "Aye sir!" Happy replies as they head out of the guild.
After searching the house, they came up empty handed, only finding that Natsu took his usual hiking pack before heading off. Surprisingly it was pretty easy to look around, Lucy hadn't been in their house for a while but it looked like the boys made a conscious effort to at least keep some of the trash off of the floor, with a few additions to their "memory wall" of jobs they took with Lucy. It moved her back then, and after placing a hand over her heart, it obviously moved her now. Not knowing what to do next she hugged Happy before thinking with a sinking heart, "Natsu...where are you?"
That night on the border of Fiore and Bosco...Natsu is walking along silently muttering to himself when he passes by two cloaked individuals, going largely unnoticed as they were engrossed in their own attentions.
"Do you feel anything around?" The smaller one asks. "No, I don't sense anything here. We have to stay vigilant and track down any stray pieces, if they fall into the wrong hands who knows-" He stops suddenly eyes averting up looking at the back of Natsu's figure fading in the distance. "What is it Jellal? Is something wrong?" Meredy asks. "No...just thought I recognized someone." He replies, then thinking to himself, "Why is he alone? Did something happen to Happy and Lucy?" He looks down worriedly thinking to himself, "Erza..."
A/N
From here out the chapters are going to be longer, for example the next chapter is about twice as long as this one. So far i'm happy with the direction of the story and i've had a lot of fun writing it! I really wanted the intro to the guild to be kind of "all over the place" in a sense, because I think the in the manga/anime they're kind of a chaotic guild, but that's what makes it so fun! Anywho, I can't wait to get out some new material for you! Also i'd like to celebrate my first review!
Demeex, I already pm'd you but thank you again for the input. My biggest challenge is writing new material while still trying to keep the feeling of, "This is Fairy Tail" Above all else I want to protect that as much as possible. Thanks again and I look forward to hearing back!
Thank you all to those who have followed/favorited as well, I truly didn't expect this so i'm really excited to push out some new content. The next chapter will be up soon!
