I do not own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does

Chapter 3

The next morning, Lucy woke up much later than she had the previous day; when her chocolate brown eyes finally opened, the sun was high up in the sky, its beams of light seeping through the crack in the curtains. Lifting a heavy hand to her face Lucy rubbed at her eyes to get rid of the sleep dust, sitting up in her bed. "Mornin', sleepy head," came a cheery but tired sounding voice from Lucy's left. Turning her head she saw Levy, her blue hair a wild mess as it stuck out at random angles, but even with the bad hair, Levy still looked adorable. "Morning, Levy," Lucy replied before leaning forward to look around her friend to see if a certain red-head was also awake or still asleep. However, when Lucy's eyes landed on Erza's bed, the mage in question was not there. "Erza left about twenty minutes ago, if you're wondering," Levy said as she stretched, noticing the direction of Lucy's gaze.

Sluggishly, the two girls finally got out of bed, one leg at a time. Over the next hour, they alternated between rooms, Levy using the bathroom first, whilst Lucy got changed in the bedroom area. Noticing that it was a clear, sunny day, Lucy had decided to wear a light, pale blue sun dress, her white and pink bikini underneath. It looks like a good day to spend in the sea Lucy had decided as she searched for her beach towel, sunscreen and watch before placing the objects into a large beach bag she had packed with her. Placing her bag on her bed, she turned around as Levy came out of the bathroom, her bed hair damp and hidden under a precariously placed towel on the blue haired mages head. Another towel was wrapped tightly across Levy's petit body as she walked over to one of the three wardrobes in the room, looking through her clothes as she decided on what to wear that day. Scooting past her friend, Lucy went into the now vacant bathroom, her make-up bag, which she had picked up from inside her suitcase, swinging by her side as she closed the bathroom door behind her. When she went to check her reflexion in the multiple mirrors, all of them were steamed up from Levy's shower. Rubbing the condensation off the mirrors with her hand, Lucy finally got a glimpse of her reflexion. "Yikes!" she said aloud; her usually well-kept hair was ten times wilder than Levy's had been, her eyes were slightly puffy and there was a clear trail of dry drool glistening from the corner of her mouth all the way down and past her chin. This is going to take a while Lucy sighed as she grabbed her hairbrush and tried to detangle her wild mane.

Forty minutes later and Lucy finally came out of the bathroom, feeling satisfied that she had done her best to make herself look more appealing to the human eye. As she walked back into the bedroom area, she was startled when she saw Erza, Juvia, Wendy and Charle all in the room. Lucy walked over to her bed where Levy was sitting, seeing as Wendy and Charle were sitting on the solid script mages bed, and put her make-up bag back in her suitcase before sitting down on her bed next to Levy. Before Lucy could ask why they were all in the room, Erza began to speak, "I spoke to the boys this morning when I was on my way back from my morning run. We agreed that we would all do our own things this morning and then meet up for some lunch at one." Lucy thought that the re-quip mage was going to say more, but when after a few moments had passed, it was evident that Erza had finished. "Juvia is going to find Gray and spend the morning together with my darling," Juvia said to the group from Erza's bed. It was clear from the looks that each girl had on their face that they knew this would be the water mages plan. "Me and Charle are going to go to the amusement park," Wendy said, feeling like she needed to address what she would do; seeing as Charle would be there, it could easily be assumed that Happy would probably end up being there. "I shall be going for a hike around the island," Erza stated; she definitely looked the part to hike; she was quipped in shorts and a t-shirt, but had hiking boots on, as well as hiking gear visible in the bag she had draped on one shoulder. "Although I'm not hiking, I think I'm going to go explore the island for a while," Levy said, swinging her feet in front of her. "And I'm going down to the beach," Lucy said as the others looked at her for her response. Once they had all decided what they were going to do for the morning, Erza said, "alright then. We shall all meet back at the hotel near the restaurant." At this, the others had seen this as their dismissal so each person got up off the bed and walked in an orderly line out of the door. Before Lucy had walked out of the room Levy called her name from behind her. "Hey Lu, I've finished the book if you want to take it with you? I'm sure it will keep you entertained whilst you tan," Levy winked as she handed the book to Lucy. "Thanks, Levy," Lucy said as she placed the book in her bag before the two of them walked out of the room together.

When they all eventually arrived at the hotels front entrance, they said their farewells before walking off in different directions; Juvia quickly ran off to find Gray; Wendy and Charle walked right to where the amusement was; Erza and Levy went left to the trail that lead out of the hotels boundaries. Lucy watched the others all disappear before she finally walked forwards towards the beach, which was beckoning her onto its golden sands. There were quite a lot of people already on the beach, despite it still being slightly early. Not wanting to be disturbed by the groups of children playing with beach balls and throwing sand everywhere, Lucy walked along the beach for a while before finding a spacious spot. Lucy took her towel out of her bag, placed it neatly on the ground before sitting down on top of it, her knees bent so that they touched her chest, loosely placing her arms around her legs. For a while, Lucy just sat like that, taking everything in. The sea was sparkling from the sun reflecting off of it; a few birds were drifting lazily through the sky, crying their morning calls to each other; a slight breeze drifted from the side. Even though there was a nice breeze, Lucy still felt warm and so took off her sundress so she sat only in her bikini.

Eventually, Lucy leaned over to her bag and grabbed the book Levy had lent her. Well, there's no better time to read Lucy decided, placing the book at the edge of the towel as she got into a more comfortable position. Opting to lie down on her front, Lucy picked up the book once more, opened it up and began to read. It was a dark and dreary morning which started that fateful day the first sentence read. "Looks like another cliché romance novel," Lucy muttered to herself, but smiled because these were the kind of romance novels she enjoyed most. The alarm blared off in my ear, telling me it was time to wake up. When I tried to turn around to switch off the damn thing, I found myself trapped by my bed cover, which must have tangled itself around my body. A five minute battle between me and the covers later, I managed to click the 'off' button on my alarm, more forceful than probably necessary. Even as I got out of bed that morning, I could feel that today was not going to be my day. I tried to get dressed, but the buttons on my blouse were putting up as strong a fight as the bed covers had. Feeling defeated, I shoved off the blouse and chucked it back in to the dresser, grabbing a random dress from the wardrobe instead. I went downstairs and made my morning coffee. As I went to take a sip from my mug, my phone rang, startling me, causing me to spill my drink all over my dress. The boiling hot liquid seeped through the fabric and onto my skin, burning me. I stifled my cry of pain as I reached for the phone. "Hello?" I asked down the line. "Why are you not at work yet, Miss Denton? The meeting is starting in a few minutes!" an angry voice bellowed back. Crap, I had forgotten all about the meeting. "I-I'll be there in five minutes, sir," I replied before ending the call. Rushing up stairs, I quickly grabbed a jacket to cover the coffee stain with, no time to get changed again, before I rushed out of my small apartment. Five minutes later exactly and I was running (a great feat when in heels) into the entrance of the Bijnesu Industries, the large and fancy building which I worked as a secretary in. I rushed over to the elevators and jabbed the up button. I waited impatiently for a few moments before the elevator opened. I rushed inside and pressed the number '12' button; the meeting was to occur on the twelfth floor. Before the elevator doors had closed completely, a hand caught the door and forced the elevator to open. The figure that had stopped my elevator walked in and quickly pressed the number '9' button. I couldn't see who it was as they were facing away from me, but I knew that they were male. The doors finally closed and that was when I finally got to see the man's face. It was this moment when my fateful encounter began. I felt all the air leave my body when I looked in to the man's face. Time seemed to stand still in that moment, as if the two of us, when we entered the elevator, had stepped into another world that only worked for us. My eyes moved from his icy blue pair, to his lips. I bit my lower lip, imagining if his mouth would feel as soft as it looked, when his lips parted. He took a deep breath, before saying in a deep, husky voice, "Yo, Lucy!" Natsu yelled from a distance, causing Lucy to fall out of her trance. And it was just getting to the good part too Lucy sighed sadly, marking the page she was on before putting the book back in her bag; now that Natsu was here, Lucy would find it difficult to read. Kneeling up, Lucy turned her gaze to where she had heard Natsu's voice and smiled as she watched him jog over to her. He was stripped down to some flaming red swimming trunks and his scarf which was tied around his head.

"Hey, Natsu. Where's Happy?" She asked her partner once he was standing next to her. "He's with Charle and Wendy. They told me that you were here," Natsu said before sitting down on the ground next to Lucy. "Hey, have you put any sunscreen on? Your shoulders are starting to go red," the pink haired mage said. True to his word, when Lucy looked at her shoulders they were no longer their usual creamy colour, but a bright, rosy pink. I hadn't thought I had been out that long Lucy thought before looking back at Natsu. "you should probably put some on before you start looking like your crab spirit, uh, what's his name… oh yeah, Cancer," he said whilst she rummaged through her bag, bringing out the white bottle full of sunscreen. She squeezed a decent sized dollop of the liquid directly onto her right shoulder and began to rub it into her skin. Once she was satisfied she had rubbed it all in, she repeated the process on the other shoulder. She also put a little sunscreen on her face, hoping that she had got it all. Lucy was about to put the bottle back into her bag when Natsu grabbed it from her hand. "You forgot your back," he said before moving so that he could sit behind Lucy. "Oh it's okay, I can do-" Lucy started to say but Natsu's hands made contact with her back, spreading the sunscreen across her pinky-red skin. It stung a little when he rubbed it in; she hadn't realised how burnt she was. Soon the sting left to be replaced by a soothing sensation, her back going from tense to relaxed. Although there was no more pain, Lucy felt a tingling sensation wherever Natsu's hands trailed. She didn't know what the tingling was, but she did know that she liked it. Just as Lucy was trying to figure out why her back was tingling, Natsu's hands left her back. Lucy turned around so that she could face her comrade. "Uh, thanks for doing that," she said. That was a very Un-Natsu thing for him to do Lucy thought to herself. She would never have imagined Natsu to voluntarily rub sunscreen on her, or anyone for that matter, but she appreciated it nevertheless. Natsu didn't speak, but rather smiled in response to Lucy.

Just as Lucy was about to ask Natsu why he was there and not with one of the other guys, a male voice shouted at them from along the beach, the same way that Natsu had come from. "Hey, Natsu! Lucy!" Gray yelled at the two as he came closer. As usual, Gray was stripped of his shirt and trousers, but at least he was wearing swimming trunks rather than underwear. "Don't you know what time it is? Erza made me come get you both. You know she hates us being late," Gray said once he was close enough to not have to shout. Was is one O'clock already? Lucy thought before looking into her bag for her watch; the little clock said that it was quarter past one. She looked at Natsu, who had looked over her shoulder to see the time, and the two of them gulped. Erza was going to kill them. Quickly getting to their feet, Lucy picked up her towel, shaking off as much sand as she could before shoving it in her bag along with her sunscreen and watch. Hastily grabbing her bag, Lucy followed the two guys quickly back up to the hotel.

No less than five minutes later and the trio were walking into the restaurant. As they were all only clad into their swimming gear, they had to sit outside, which wasn't a problem because it was too hot to sit indoors. Weaving through the many tables, they managed to get to the outside area as well as find the rest of their group; the only other people who were in swimming gear was Gajeel and Juvia. Everyone looked up at the three of them as they came to the table. However, one glance from Erza and the three of them jumped backwards a few feet. Erza was giving her and Natsu one of her famous death glares; even though he wasn't being glared at, Gray still fell backwards in fear of facing Erza's wrath for something he probably did. "You're late," Erza said stiffly to Natsu and Lucy. They both tried to ramble their apologies at the same time, but before they could, Erza lifted one of her hands in to the air in a stop motion, and the two fell silent. "Usually I would punish such tardiness, but seeing as we are all on holiday, I will let it slide this time. But be warned, if any of you are late again, I will not go so easy on you," Erza said, the last bit directed towards all of them. "Yes, Erza," the group, except Gajeel who just grunted, said in unison. "Now, let us all sit and eat," the re-quip mage said, signalling for Natsu, Gray and Lucy to sit down with them. Gray went to the other side of the table to sit in his seat between Erza and Juvia. Natsu sat down in the seat directly in front of him, Happy on his right. This left Lucy with the seat on Natsu's left, and on Levy's right. Pulling the chair under her, Lucy picked up the menu from in front of her and scanned its contents, looking for something appetising to eat.

It took them all ten minutes before the waiter could take their order; Erza was being particularly picky, asking questions about practically every dish. All of the males had decided on big meaty meals, Happy on fish, whilst all the females went for light meals such as salads or sandwiches. Lucy had decided to go for the chicken Caesar salad. As they all waited for their food to arrive, they all fell into small talk among each other. "So, how are you finding the book?" Levy asked Lucy. "Trashy and cliché. Just how I like them," Lucy replied, smiling. "I knew that you would enjoy it," Levy smirked. The two girls giggled and chatted away for a while when the waiter finally arrived with their food. As soon as her plate was placed in front of her, Lucy's stomach gave an involuntary grumble; she hadn't realised how hungry she was. Not waiting, Lucy grabbed her forked and tucked right in, the other following her lead. As she chewed the food, she let out a little moan. "Mavis, this is good!" she stated out loud. "Don't let Mira find out you said that," Levy said next to her before adding, "but this food is delicious," and stuffed her small mouth with even more of her food. Lucy laughed at her friend but the laugh quickly as she went back to her food.

With their bellies full and smiles on their faces, the group was much quieter than they had been at the beginning. Some of them sipped on their drinks, others continued talking, whilst a few just gazed at nothing in particular. Lucy was one of those who was staring off out to sea, not really watching, but thinking about earlier. She had never felt that tingling sensation before in her back, or in any part of her body. It worried her; was it just because the sunscreen was numbing the burning in her back, or was she sick, or was it something else? When she looked over to Natsu, her breath caught in her throat for some reason when she saw the way he looked; the sun was making him look like he was glowing like a lightbulb, his hair almost a neon pink than a calm salmon colour. But it was his eyes, oh how his eyes glistened so beautifully. Like rays of happiness. Lucy couldn't help but smile just looking at them. "Hey, Lucy? Why are smiling like that? It's creepy," Happy said as he looked at her from around Natsu. Looking down at the feline, Lucy blushed furiously realising what she was doing. Some of the othlers looked at her, which caught the attention of the few that weren't, who all soon quickly moved their gazes onto her as well. Not enjoying this new found attention, and wanting to get away from her thoughts, Lucy stood up and said, "I need the bathroom," before excusing herself and turned around. Just as she was about to walk however, Lucy heard roars of laughter come from behind her, causing people from other tables to turn and stare at their group. Lucy turned back around and tried to say "what" but as she spoke, more laughter, though quieter, came from behind her; what's so funny? She thought, turning to Levy, hoping the solid script mage would explain to her what the joke was. However it was Gajeel who spoke to Lucy. "Hey blondie, nice sun burn!" the dragon-slayer said through laughs. She knew that her sun burn was bad, but it wasn't anything to laugh at. Getting angry and flustered, Lucy once again turned to her friend for an answer. This time Levy spoke, though after she managed to stop laughing. "Hey, uh, Lu? Who put sunscreen on your back?" the blue haired mage asked. "Natsu did. Why?" She asked, confused. At this, all the girls glared at Natsu who, at the new found attention caved in and admitted to his crime. Facing Lucy, the fire-dragon slayer said, in between hysterical laughter, "I'm… sorry, Lucy! I… couldn't… help myself!" Before continuing, Natsu took a deep breath to try to calm down, but this only caused him to laugh harder. It took him a few moments to calm down before he spoke again. "When I was putting sunscreen on you, I thought your back could do with some redecorating. So I drew a picture in the sunscreen. I didn't think that it would stay!" Lucy's eyes widened in horror at this realisation as she tried to look at her back, but her neck wouldn't turn so far backwards. She looked at Levy and asked, "what did he draw?" Levy bit her lip, trying desperately to hold back a fit of giggles, for her friends sake. Taking a deep breath, Levy replied, "well it looks like it was supposed to be a face, but the sunscreen has drooped a bit and the eyes have attached to the nose, which is now really long, so it all looks like a-" "I get the picture," Lucy said quickly to stop her friend from uttering the male body part allowed. Groaning, Lucy grabbed for her bag and rummaged through it until she found her light blue dress. Putting it on, Lucy grabbed her bag, but just before she was about to drape it over her shoulder, her eyes fell onto Natsu. Anger filled her whole body; he was going to pay for this. Raising her back high, she swung the big beach bag down until it made contact with Natsu's head, a satisfying smack sound emitting through the air. "OW! What's in that bag? Bricks?" Natsu whined, rubbing his head as he looked up at Lucy. Feeling satisfied, Lucy turned around and stormed off, not bothering to say goodbye to anyone.

She automatically went up to her hotel room, but when she went inside decided she didn't want to sit in there; Erza and Levy would surely come up here looking for her. So instead, Lucy placed her bag onto her bed, took out A Fateful Encounter and left the room once more. Not sure where she would go, Lucy went out of the hotel and randomly walked left. She allowed her feet to take her wherever. Finally after what felt like an hour, Lucy decided to sit down under a nearby tree, her feet sore from walking on the rough terrain of the island; flip flops were probably not the most ideal footwear for such a rocky, hilly terrain. Sitting down on a soft looking patch of grass under her chosen tree, Lucy went to rest her back against the trunk but her sunburn argued against the contact. Pulling away, Lucy waited for the sting to disappear from her back. Once the pain had gone and Lucy's body began to stiffen from the position she was in, Lucy tried again to rest against the tree trunk, this time leaning against it slowly, trying to not make her dress to move so as to avoid causing friction. There was still some sting when her back touched the tree once more, but it was bearable. A cool breeze drifted from the sea all the way up to where she was on the island. The wind soothed and relaxed Lucy, feeling nice on her skin. Leaning her head back, Lucy closed her eyes and stayed like that for a long time, allowing her other senses to work; she could hear the rustle of the palm leaves above her as the wind blew through them; she could smell the salty ocean air drifting past her; she could feel the strands of grass under her hands trying to seep in between the gaps of her fingers. Time slipped by as she stayed like that, with not a care in the world.

"Lucy!" Erza shouted around her. When Lucy was not in their hotel room as they had all expected, the group got slightly worried about her; she knew that the events from lunch had upset her and they wanted to make it up to her for laughing. They had all decided to split up to search for her; Wendy and Charle looked around the hotel, in case the celestial spirit mage had decided to wonder through the corridors; Gray had decided to check the north part of the island, Juvia volunteering to go with him, much to Gray's dismay; Happy decided to look in the amusement park; Levy and Gajeel went down to the beach to search for Lucy, which was the south part of the island; Natsu went to the East thinking that he could smell faint traces of her scent; this left Erza to search the Western part of the island alone. Not that she minded searching by herself, Erza had been feeling slightly uneasy all day; during her morning jog, she noticed another jogger, though their face and hair were hidden behind a hat, sunglasses and balaclava; true it was a bit chilly that morning, but it wasn't that cold. Later on, when she went for her hike, Erza couldn't help but feel like she was being watched from a distance, but whenever she tried to find a source, no one or nothing was to be found. And now whilst she rummaged past low hanging branches and through thick plantation on the ground, Erza had that unsettling feeling of being watched. When she heard the snapping of twig underfoot a few feet behind her, the muscles in her back tensed, but she did not stop or turn. Instead, Erza had decided to allow the potential stalker follow her so that when she felt the time was right, she would pounce on them.

About ten minutes later and Erza knew that the stalker had gotten closer to her, though stayed within the shadows. Trying to not act suspiciously, Erza moved her head slightly to the side, looking as far out of the corner of her eye as she could. Although she couldn't see clearly, Erza could see a shadowy figure from her restricted vision. From an estimated guess, they were less than six feet away from her position. Not yet Erza said to herself, holding back the urge to attack the foe. Erza turned her gaze back onto the road ahead of her and continued to look for Lucy, her sense of hearing acute for any sounds from her stalker, or from Lucy if she was here.

"Lucy," Erza shouted once more, cupping her hands around her mouth so as to make her voice louder. She deliberately tried to make herself sound much louder; one so that, if she was within the area, Lucy would be able to hear her; but the main reason why Erza yelled so loudly was so that the foe could move closer, which they did as Erza could faintly hear the rushing of fabric scraping against floor as they tried to get closer to her. "Lucy," Erza shouted again, slowing her pace a bit; she could sense that, whoever it was, they were probably only three metres away from her now. Stopping completely in her tracks, Erza looked like she was about to yell, and just as she let the sound start to leave her mouth, she turned quickly and pounced at the person. The foe didn't even have a chance to take in what was happening when the two of them tumbled down the hill, Erza clinging tightly onto the stalker, whose identity was concealed under a cloak, though as they rolled down, Erza had to close her eyes to avoid dust and dirt from entering them. As soon as they stopped rolling, Erza half opened one eye, just in case they hadn't stopped and it was just her imagination. At first her sight was slightly blurry from the tightness that she had kept her eyes shut. But once her vision cleared, her eyes fell on to the person that she was practically laying on top. But the person underneath her was the last person she was ever expecting to see as her stalker. Although his bright blue hair was all scruffy, and his features were scrunched as he waited for the spinning in his head to stop, Erza could tell exactly who it was. Before they had a chance to even move, or open their eyes, Erza spoke.

"Jalal?!"

Levy and Gajeel walked in silence across the sand as they looked for Lucy. Levy was worried about her friend, but she couldn't help but feel a little irritated by Gajeel, who kept on sighing every time they went past another person that wasn't Lucy. After the fifteenth person he did this to, Levy gave a sigh of her own before turning her head to look at Gajeel. "You know, if you really don't want to be here, you can go if you like," the solid script mage said. Gajeel only looked at her from the corner of his eyes and didn't speak, but continued walking. Levy stayed silent, but when they walked past another blonde girl who ended up being a blonde guy with extremely long hair and Gajeel sighed yet again, Levy stopped walking and crossed her arms over her chest.

It took Gajeel a few seconds to realise that the blue haired mage had stopped walking. "What?" he asked her, slight irritation visible in his voice and his facial features. "Just go back to the hotel if you don't want to do this. No one will mind. I can easily search the beach on my own," Levy said to the iron dragon-slayer, her mouth forming a thin line, her eyes slightly narrowed. "Not gunna happen, shorty," was Gajeel's reply. Levy tried to keep her expression going as she asked, "and why's that?" She was trying to be intimidating, but she knew that she was failing; her below average height and petite body compared to the tall and muscular dragon-slayer in front of her, it was easy to tell who was intimidating who. "Cuz you're worried about blondie. You're annoying when you're worried," Gajeel said, folding his arms over his chest. Although his expression was his usually grumpy style, and even though he called her annoying, Levy couldn't help but feel her heart pang against her chest; this was his way of caring, she knew. Having a change of heart, Levy loosened her arms back down to her sides, her facial expression relaxing a bit. She walked back over to his side, but before they continued to walk, Levy turned her whole body so that she could look at him when she spoke. "I appreciate your concern for me, but I can look after myself. You don't need to stay if you really don't want to." Her voice was much softer than the irritated tones she had been previously useing. Part of her really wished that he would just go if he was going to continue sighing like that; but part of her really hoped that he would stay. Since the S-class trials on Tenrou Island, Levy had felt a closer connection to Gajeel. Even though the iron dragon-slayer never showed his emotions, Levy could just tell that he felt the same. From the slight upward crease in the corner of his mouth when he was happy, or the slight furrowing of his brows when he wasn't sure or worried, Levy saw it all and understood each expression like the back of her hand. She felt sure enough to say that she was one of the few that actually knew these little things about Gajeel.

When he finally spoke his response, Levy was surprised by the soft, caring tone he used. "Shorty, I wanna stay. I prefer being around you than lounging around in that damn hotel room alone. It's weird but I've gotten used to having you around me." When he spoke, he dropped his gaze from her, suddenly finding the sand rather interesting; but Levy could see the very faint trace of a blush. This made Levy smile. "Gajeel," she said in her warm tone, but before she could continue, Gajeel spoke in his usual gruff tone, looking back up at her. "You better not get all mushy on me now, or you'll be useless in finding blondie," he said before reaching out and placing a rough hand on top of her head, ruffling her hair. "Hey!" she protested as her once tamed down hair loosened from under her headband. "Come on, pipsqueak," Gajeel said, as he moved his hand from her head to her shoulder, pulling her into his side as he draped his arm over her.

Just this movement made Levy forget her worries of Lucy.

Lucy didn't know exactly how long she had been like that, but by the time she opened her eyes, the sun was beginning to set. She was shocked that she hadn't notice the suns movement in the sky, or how chilly it had become. Even so, she still did not move, enjoying her time alone. As she moved her head off the tree trunk, Lucy opted to rest her head on the tops of her knees, drawing her legs up so she could do so. Lucy stared off to side, in the direction of the sea, and thought. She didn't know why she felt so hurt and betrayed by Natsu; he had done so many worse pranks on her and yet it was this one that had hurt her the most. Maybe it was because it was in front of people outside the guild, or maybe it was because everyone had been laughing rather cruelly at her, she wasn't sure which though. Either way, she really didn't enjoy this feeling, much unlike the tingling feeling she had had from earlier on in the day. Speaking of which, both of these feelings were caused by Natsu. Similar things had happened to her in the past as a result from Natsu, and yet this was the first time Lucy could recall ever feeling such emotions because of him, which unsettled her. Lucy didn't know how she felt about these newfound feelings but she didn't have time to make a decision when she noticed the pink haired mage in question come up the path she had walked earlier to get to where she was now. "There you are, Luce! We've been looking all over for you," Natsu said as he saw sight of her. As soon as she heard him speak, she turned her head in the other direction, sounding a very audible exhale of breath from her nose. She was not in the mood to talk to him. "Hey, there's no need to be like that. Lucy, I'm sorry okay? I didn't mean to upset you. I thought it was funny-" but as Natsu said this, he could tell that he had taken a wrong footing, though he didn't know what he had said that was wrong. Lucy's head snapped upwards towards him, her nostrils flaring, and eyes like daggers ready to kill. "Funny?! You think it's funny to have something like… like that on your back? Have everyone laugh at you in such a horrible way? Natsu, I have never been more embarrassed in my life! I can't believe you!" Lucy said to him, louder than her usual tone, but not loud enough to be called shouting. "Lucy, I've already said I'm sorry, what else can I sa-" Natsu started to say, but it was this that tipped Lucy over the edge. Jumping to her feet, Lucy yelled, "DO YOU REALLY THINK SORRY IS GOING TO CUT IT?! That was the most humiliating moment of my life! What's worse is that I'm going to be stuck with your 'work of art' for at least the next few weeks, unless I can find a remedy or spell to get rid of it! Now unless you're going to make it up to me, I suggest you get the hell away from me, Natsu, or I'm going to give you some serious brain damage!" Lucy lifted her book up threateningly; a big, hard-back book would probably give a person some serious head injuries.

Even so, Natsu didn't move, nor did he speak. He just stood there watching her for a moment. The evening light was reflecting the both of them and in that moment, Lucy couldn't help but notice just how beautiful Natsu looked. It was different to the beauty Lucy saw at lunch; where he looked bright and happy in the high sun, now Natsu looked serious and very much masculine. Each muscle in his arms were accented by the sun rays making them stand out even more; his hair looked like moving flames, making him really live up to his title as a fire dragon-slayer; his lips, half hidden in shadows looked firm but soft at the same time. Lucy realised that she had been staring at Natsu's lips, her thoughts starting to go somewhere she didn't want them to. Shaking her head, Lucy started to speak, "please, Natsu, just go-" but Natsu had closed the space between them and wrapped his muscular arms around her shoulders, bringing her close to her. Lucy's arms stayed by her side, too in shock from the sudden contact as a feeling of electricity ran throughout her body. As her brain processed what was happening, Natsu said quietly next to her ear so it was almost a whisper, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, really. I promise I'll make it up to you. I'll try to find something to fix it. I'll never prank you ever again. I'll do anything. Just, please don't stay mad at me. I don't like seeing you angry like this." The sound of vulnerability and insecurity was visible in Natsu's voice, which shocked Lucy even more than the embrace had; it was extremely rare to see such a side to Natsu, as he usually reserved such emotions for desperate battles where he had protect comrades in dire situations. It was this sound in his voice that made Lucy's arms finally move from her sides to around Natsu's chest. Lucy didn't know why Natsu was feeling such emotions; no one was in mortal danger, it was just the two of them there in the dying sunlight, alone on the hill top, hugging one another tightly. It was a while until either of them spoke again. "I'm sorry, Lucy," Natsu whispered into the crook between her head and shoulder, causing Goosebumps to rise where his breath touched her skin. Trying to ignore this, Lucy said, "it's okay."

They didn't let go of each other even when the sun had completely disappeared, and the moon and the stars glistened around them.

Next chapter: Day two of the vacation and there's a competition going down at the beach. What are everyone's reactions when they find out that Erza has signed them all up for it, or more particularly the grouping that they are all in?

Phew! Another chapter done!

So this chapter took a while to write, and is my longest so far. At first I was going to go for a different approach and I had more NaLu, but after much consideration, I ended up taking a huge chunk out and re-wrote lots of it. Still, I hope you like it. Also, as I'm currently doing my A levels, and although my exams are out of the way (thank Mavis!), I have a lot of A2 stuff going on as well as University preps and so on, so I have less time to write. But don't worry! I'm determined to continue writing. So what I've decided to do is upload a new chapter once a week, probably on a Sunday, though the date may differ from time to time because of future events (I'm going to Florida early July and I won't be taking my laptop with me). Even so, I do hope that you stick with the story and I will try my best to get a new chapter out every Sunday.

On a side note, I hope you enjoyed the little bit of Jerza and GaLe I put in. I'll be bringing some Gruvia in later on, so if you ship it, don't worry! I haven't forgotten them!

Chapter 4 will be up next week, so keep an eye out for it. Thanks to everyone who has followed and favorited the story, and a big thanks to those who have followed and favorited me! It means a lot to me. As I've said in the other chapters, if you have any pieces of criticism or areas of improvement for me, please let me know in a review. If there's anything you like about the story so far, I would love to know!

In the meantime, I'd best get cracking on with the next chapter.

AnimeTookMySoul