Disclaimer: I (unfortunately) do NOT own Fairy Tail or any of the characters. I only am responsible for the (albeit poorly written and devised) plot.
Wow! Ohmygod, you guys are AMAZING with the whole support thing! Thank you so much!
As you might have read last chapter (if you bothered to read the whole bolded intro; I know I usually don't so it's okay if you didn't hear), I've already started a new fic! It will be posted immediately after this story is finished, (so, probably the day after).
I'm almost done with the first chapter, so finishing it shouldn't take to long.
Moving on, here are the people I am so, SO grateful for, because they've been so supportive and really make me happy and proud of this story:
Aisu-Ran-field
Genechan2009
necromancer king
scarlett777
JCqueen
kittentf
The dark side of the loonatics
satrfiresusan18
xdtyr8
BrokenPiecesOfHell- I know, Natsu's such a moron! (I'm laughing in my head because I'm the one who wrote him like that.) And how do I do it? I honestly don't know either. And btw, I love you profile pic.
MegtheChaosDragonslayer
NessieSweet24
MarSofTheGalaxies
Folium
emijade
UndeadEnding
sabrina-luna-potter
rebel . 17 (Again, my computer formats it like that. Sorry.)
dogsrcool- Thanks so much!
booklover21567
Sapphire Water Maiden- Well, I hope the wait wasn't too long!
MsCookieSmuggler (aka the 3rd)- I'm glad to know you think the story's improving. That really means a lot to me. Also, so you're the one who came up with the amnesia concept? Cool. (Would it be alright with you if I held onto that idea? Not the next one coming out soon, but maybe for another fic after that?)
The King Of Dragons- I couldn't wait either! (That's why I did this chapter so fast...)
Gothazon- Same. The reaction is totally relatable.
taboadayvonne- will do!
Naomi chan- I will, I will! Promise.
Wondewomanbatmanfan- Hey cliff hangers are great! (Even though they kinda suck. A lot.)
Dreaming Star Traveler- Thank you for saying my story is awesome (though I'm not quite sure if I can agree with you on that).
dogsrcool- Really? That's nice to hear! Glad you like it.
Cassi0chan- I know, Natsu's totally heartbroken. And about him knowing about Lucy being fine... Maybe this chapter. Maybe not.
Alyssa947- Glad that you 'loved' it!
IbeWildBella124- Wow. Thank you for... all of that. I'm glad I'm keeping you on the edge of your seats, and I'm not being predictable like some people expected. Your review made me really really happy, and thank you for all of your much-appreciated support.
And for the thousandth time, whoever the Guests are, please leave a name next time!
Well then, let's get a move on.
BUT READ THIS FIRST
JUST A WARNING: A lot of this chapter is kind of fillers/fluff for other ships before it gets to any of the good stuff. (Mainly laxus/Mirajane)
Too bad Lucy hadn't exactly thought of a specific destination before jumping through the gate.
The sky opened up, and Lucy plummeted downward, along with the rain.
Lucy had been unceremoniously dumped on a rosebush.
Great.
Just great.
Lucy yelped, wincing at the thorns pricking her. She winced, feeling the sharp points breaking the skin of her back through her outfit from the Spirit World. The blood and the raindrops made it hard for her to lift herself up, but Lucy ignored it.
She still had some of the Spirit World Magic flowing through her veins, but in the Human World, it wasn't healing her up before her very eyes.
Lucy staggered off the bush of flowers, her knee still bleeding and dysfunctional.
Her cane.
Goddamint, where was her cane?
Lucy looked around, before remembering exactly why she'd jumped through Loke's Gate without hesitation.
Natsu.
Her head whipped around, searching for any familiar landmark that might indicate where she was through the downpour of water. Squinting, she could just barely make out black iron gate, rising high above her.
The graveyard, Lucy almost cried with relief.
She knew those gates. They were the gates that had one held Lisanna's grave, before it had been destroyed. Now, to get to the guild Hall, all she had to do was run through them, and exit on the other side.
Lucy limped forwards, collapsing the second she bounded forward on her bad leg. But Lucy wasn't going to relent because of her stupid, defective knee.
She limped forwards, the stinging in her stomach intensifying.
Lucy didn't care anymore.
I just wanna see Natsu, Lucy desperately thought. I want to say I'm sorry, for leaving so long.
I hope he doesn't think I'm still mad over him leaving without me to bond with Lisanna.
That thought brought another sting of pain, though this one was mostly emotional.
I hope he doesn't think I left on a long mission without him, Lucy fretted, imagining his anger for abandoning him.
As Lucy bolted through the graveyard, in haste to get to the guild, she was blind to the world around her.
Even the smooth slab of stone protruding from the ground, the very one with her name carved into it in elegant script.
Natsu was completely miserable. Especially so today, though most couldn't figure out why exactly.
It was the day of Igneel's disappearance.
And yet, Igneel wasn't the focus of Natsu's thoughts on the rainy afternoon.
Quite predictably, he was thinking of Lucy.
He had his forehead pressed down onto the wood of the bar, hands in his hair.
Coping wasn't working.
Every damned day, he's just imagine what could have been, and what could no longer be. Ever since that day, all Natsu had been able to imagine was Lucy, in that stupid white dress, with her cheeks all flushed and-
Dammit, he was doing it again!
Natsu groaned, slamming his head into the bar counter, and closed his eyes. And just this once, he let his imagination wander.
He let himself create a fantasy, where he and Lucy hadn't acted like the two biggest idiots in the planet. He imagined that he'd never been a dumbass, and had never left on the basis of: Lucy making him 'sick.'
Natsu groaned once more, a new wave of shame devouring him.
I really fucked up.
Some days, like this one, Natsu was especially affected by Lucy's death. It hit him especially hard, when he woke up, bright eyed and fine (after a blissfully dreamless sleep, no doubt), and was then hit with the crushing realization that he'd gone and practically gotten his mate killed.
Dead.
Six feet under. (Well, not really, because the body had been lost to the rough terrain before they'd gotten to it).
Natsu just wanted to impale himself in the heart, and save him the pain in the long run.
He just wanted it to be over.
Natsu was tired of hurting.
He just wanted it all to end, so he could finally just be with Lucy again, wherever she was.
But no, Natsu would suffer on, for Lucy's sake. Natsu had to make sure Lucy's memory stayed strong in the legacy of Fairy Tail; so she would be remembered forever.
Letting his imagination get the best of him, Natsu was once again bombarded with images of Lucy in that stupid dress that made his heart and his head hurt and god did he miss her so badly-
And then the next image that flashed in front of him was one that actually, physically, hurt.
It was a much simpler vision, really. Unlike the wedding visions, like one was actually realistic.
This one wasn't just an image; it was accompanied with smells and sounds and the feel of Lucy in his arms.
Lucy was sleepy soundly in her bed, and Natsu was staring at her through half-lidded eyes. The thing that made the whole image that much more agonizing, was that this wasn't a figment of his imagination. this was a memory.
This was showing Natsu something he'd once had, an d something he'd lost.
Because he was a hopeless, lovestruck, idiotic dumbshit.
Gray could tell, just by looking at Natsu from across the room.
Yep, he's having one of those days.
Lucy could barely see through the sweat, tears of desperation and the heavy rain coming down in sheets. Judging by the sticky, warm liquid trickling down the side of her face, as well as into her eyes, Lucy had gotten sliced by a rose thorn.
Still weaving her way through the streets of Magnolia, Lucy felt around her face for the source.
Ah. Lucy thought, irked at finding the source of blood just above her eyebrow. Great. that's just peachy. Fucking rosebushes. Why the hell would the gate even think to dump me in a thorn bush outside of a was irritated enough to swear, showing she really, really wasn't in a good mood.
Suddenly, one of Lucy's stumbling bare, scraped feet caught under one of the cobblestones, and she crashed into another body. Both went sprawling on the ground, left to pick themselves up.
Lucy, not really even bothering to offer a decent apology, other than a "Sorry" that escaped her, bet she must have been quite the sight to see. She was soaked to the bone; everything from her hair to her belt and everything in between was drenched.
Her back was all bloody, as were her knees and her feet. Not to mention the blood dripping inconveniently into her eyes and down her chin. She was pretty sure that she actually had opened one of her magic stitches, because a spot of dark red was blooming right over her stomach.
Catching sight of herself in a puddle, Lucy shuddered.
Lucy, not wasting anytime getting back to her Natsu (even though she still genuinely believed Lisanna and Natsu were should mates or whatever), didn't even bother straightening herself out before taking off once again.
Natsu! Natsu where are you! I'm sorry! Please!
Leaving a bewildered, utterly confused Romeo in her wake.
He was quick to react, to his credit.
Romeo slapped himself square in the face, hoping that Natsu's delusions weren't infectious.
Did I just... Was that...
Huh?
Jeez, I really am starting to lose my mind.
Guess it was bound to happen some time, after hanging out with those lunatics all the time.
Gray was leaning casually against a wall, shirt off (no surprise there) when Juvia approached him.
"Gray?" She asked timidly. He looked at her in surprise, as she'd dropped the '-sama' from the end of his name.
"Juvia? What is it?" He questioned, sensing this wasn't going to be some stupid question or statement about him a) being the object of her undying love b) being just a hero, for reasons he didn't even want to delve into or c) not returning her feelings. (Because, most of every thing that acme out of her mouth was somehow tied to one of those subcategories.)
Not that Gray would ever admit it, maybe unless someone had turned the collective efforts of both Erza Scarlett and Mirajane Strauss into getting him to spill; but perhaps all of her love was unrequited.
Shaking his head to put an end to that little train of thought, because it was beginning to head in a dangerous direction, Gray snapped out of his reverie.
"Well," Juvia nervously began, twisting her fingers around, "I know that this really isn't a great concerns, since we're all still trying to adjust to Lucy-"
Juvia's voice faltered, knowing that she was approaching what had been dubbed a 'forbidden topic' to bring up to any of the members of Team Natsu. Gray brushed his bangs back, nodding.
"It's okay. Go on."
"Wow uh..." Juvia stammered, shocked that she'd even gotten this far. Then paused, blanking on what she'd come over to say. "I was just wondering; do you have any idea what happened to Lucy's keys?"
Gray visibly drooped.
"No," he admitted. "We searched all along the train route she took, Erza and I. No trace of the keys. I don't know how Celestial Spirit Keys and contracts work; therefore I don't know if they were automatically given to some one else. Maybe they're inactive from now on until their keys are uncovered. I don't know."
Gray exhaled loudly.
"But wherever they are, I hope they're okay." His eyes softened.
"Loke most of all. We got really close," Gray admitted.
"Oh yeah, I remember; you two were partners in the S Class Trials, weren't you? Speaking of which, how did you two grow so close, with him being Lucy's Spirit and all?"
"Ah, I forgot you weren't here for that."
"For what?"
"Back when Loke was one of us," Gray began explaining. "He had a Guild Mark and everything, no one even knew he was a Celestial Spirit. Back then, he was called Leo. He changed it, because he to used to us calling him that all the time. Anyway, he'd been banished from the Celestial World. And he was dying." Juvia gasped.
"Dying, well then why..."
As Gray began retelling the story of how Lucy had come to acquire Loke's key, Mira and Lisanna were chatting at the bar. Lisanna could practically hear the gears beginning to turn in her older sister's head. (Mira had been out of the matchmaking game when Lucy had passed. But a little push wouldn't hurt if executed properly...)
"Mira, stop it," Lisanna commanded, cheeks flushed. "Stop it right now."
Mira giggled.
"But Lissa," she whined, reverting to an old childhood nickname."You're no fun..."
"If you mention a word of this to Bickslow," Lisanna hissed threateningly, "I will be out for blood."
Mira waved off her baby sister's threat.
"Yeah huh, I hear you." An evil glimmer, clearly a Strauss-woman trademark, appeared in her eyes.
(Okay, so if you read the AN at the beginning, you know that there's some Mira/Laxus fluff. That starts now.)
"Oh? Well, how about this? What do you say I walk right up to Laxus and tell him-"
Mira reacted quickly, slapping a hand over Lisanna's smug smirk.
And tell him that you like him, Mira could her the ending of her sentence clearly in her head.
"Lisanna! Don't you dare!" Mira cried, scandalized. Lisanna wrenched her older sister's hand off of her lips, smiling at her sweetly.
"Just watch me."
And with that, Lisanna gracefully rose from her seat and skipped over to the Lightning Dragon Slayer.
"Laxus!" she called.
Quicker than lightning itself, Mira leapt over the counter, not caring that she was wearing a dress (and to be reasonable, she'd been seen in less before. She was a model after all), or the glass she almost knocked over. Laxus watched it all go down, completely bewildered, as Mira tackled her little sister to the ground.
The whole guilt went silent, because watching Mirajane lose her cool was something that didn't happen often (and by often I mean, it didn't happen unless someone was going to die) since Mira had reformed herself all those years ago.
But Lisanna was lucky; Mira was much easier to evade when she was flustered. Too bad for Lisanna, Mira also fought twice as hard, at least, when she was desperate.
Lisanna slipped from under her sister's miscalculated iron grip, and Mira was left grasping at air. Lisanna made it about four steps before Mira jumped on her again, nearly tripping over her dress.
"Mira!" Lisanna whined, struggling to escape. "Lemme go! I just wanna talk to Laxus!"
"What exactly is going on over here?"
Mira stopped in her tracks, praying to god that it wasn't-
"Mira? What are you doing?' Laxus asked, baffled as to why the pretty (though he was not going to admit that to anyone, regardless of who was beating his ass for it), sweet barmaid was practically brawling with her little sister.
And, though he also wouldn't ever admit this, it was surprising how quickly Mira's reflexes were, despite her staying in the guild hall virtually the whole day.
Lisanna saw the opportunity, and took it.
"Mira want to tell you somethi-" Lisanna began in a singsongy voice, only for Mira to slap a hand over her mouth for the second time that day.
"No, no I didn't," Mira insisted, hissing something in Lisanna's ear that Laxus missed even with his heightened Dragon Slayer senses. Lisanna paled at her threat, or at least, that's what Laxus assumed it was. (It was kind of a no brainer, really.)
Releasing Lisanna, Mira, felt her cheeks redden, realizing what she'd done.
Ohmygod! I did not please tell me I didn't just attack my little sister in the middle of the guild hall! Mira cried in her head, mortified. She just wanted to curl up in a ball, and for a hole open up underneath her swallow her.
Instead, Mira settled for the 'deer-in-caught-in-headlights' look, and scampering away, spewed excuses as she made her way back to the bar.
Lisanna, however, had other plans.
Whistling, Lisanna casually stuck her foot out.
For a moment, all was right in the world, as an embarrassed Mira rushed back to her work station.
The next second, Mira's foot snagged on Lisanna's.
And then Mira was sprawled over Laxus' chest, her head nestled right in the juncture between his shoulder and his jaw, and her lags straddling his hips.
Both Mira and Laxus groaned; Laxus feeling like he'd been hit and knocked over by a train (I promise I'm not trying to be cruel), and Mira feeling like she'd run into a steel wall. They both were two of the most powerful, physically strong mages in all of Fairy Tail after all.
If it had been anyone else, Laxus wouldn't have been knocked over, period. To be knocked over from the sheer force of just tripping forwards, was a feat that was... thought to be impossible.
If it had been anyone else, Mira would not feel as woozy as she did, laying on the uneven ground.
Huh?
Mira, rubbing her sore forehead, which had been the first part to collied with Laxus, winced. Laxus, completely flat on his back, let out another groan.
Eyes cracking open, Laxus let out a strangled yelp.
Which Lisanna, standing off to the side, found extremely funny.
Mira, disoriented, rubbed her eyes. She blearily looked around, blinking rapidly.
And then she looked down.
And saw an uncharacteristically speechless Laxus.
She simply blinked at him, uncomprehendingly, for a few seconds.
And then her eyes widened, and she flushed about twelve shades of red in the span of half a second.
"LAXUS!" Mira shrieked, scrambling off (or at least attempting to) of him. "I am SO sorry!"
Laxus, still frozen with shock and the fear that this was all some twisted fantasy his subconscious was acting out briefly flitting through his mind
Goddamit Natsu, your delusions better not be contagious.
Mira struggled, though her efforts were futile. Laxus' strong hands were firm against her hips, holding her securely in place.
Lisanna was roaring with laughter now, grasping at her sides trying to contain herself.
And Bickslow...
He was admiring the view of the youngest Strauss sibling, with her cheeks flushed, and failing miserably at keeping it together.
My my, this is quite amusing, Evergreen thought to herself, hiding a smirk behind her fan.
Laxus was on the ground, complete and utter infatuation written all over his dumbstruck face.
Mira looked absolutely horrified, and absolute humiliation turned her entire face the color of Erza's hair. Her hands planted on his chest, and her leaning over him with her legs straddling him, the whole situation could be interpreted ina very different way.
Just the thought of what the whole scene looked like made Mira appalled.
Ohmygod I knocked over Laxus! I'm sitting on Laxus! Mira get ahold of yourself! Mira mentally wailed, the sudden realization rendering unable to move once more.
Laxus blinked once more.
"I- I'm so sorry," Mira stuttered out, her apology sounding very far away in her ears. "I'm just gonna go now."
Laxus' eye twitched, as he suddenly realized that this was most definitely real, and holy shit Mirajane Strauss was literally draped over him.
His epiphany suddenly threw him into action, and he bolted upright without thinking.
Mira, thrown off balance, locked her arms around Laxus' neck, effectively preventing herself from being flung off. She squeaked, squeezing her eyes shut as she cursed her reflexes.
Master Makarov calmly sipped his beer from across the room, wondering if his great-grandchildren would inherit their father's stubbornness.
Or his horrific, painfully awkward way of going about getting a woman.
He really hoped not. Especially the latter.
Lisanna, deciding that her poor sister had suffered enough, pried a shell-shocked Mirajane Strauss off of an equally shocked Laxus Dreyar.
Dragging Mira away, Lisanna called back over her shoulder.
"Mira just wanted to let you know that you left your jacket upstairs!"
Laxus watched the frazzled Mira allow herself to be lugged across the Guild Hall.
As soon as her (really very pretty) form was out of sight, Laxus collapsed back on the ground.
I swear to god this Guild will be the death of me.
Lucy couldn't even begin to express her frustration.
She really couldn't see anything at this point, and while that didn't stop her from making her way to the guild, it was pretty annoying.
Her feet for the most part knew the way, but they didn't know every crack and hole in the road. And for someone who was blindly running at top speed through torrential rains, that wasn't exactly a good thing. Lucy found herself tripping over the hem of her dress and only worsening the condition of her knees every other step. Lucy had changed right before she had fled the Spirit World; into a flow, white dress that was currently sticking to her like a second skin. (Even though this is totally unrealistic, pretend that the thing isn't totally transparent from the water.)
Lucy panted, after tripping yet again, and then proceeded to lean over and cough up some rainwater. resuming her walk again, Lucy left a trail of bloody footprints, before they were washed away by the rain. Her outfit was ruined (the one she'd changed into shortly before fleeing
Everything was turning a bit numb, despite the fact that it was a warm summer rain. (After all, she'd been frantically running through the downpour for more than thirty minute by now.)
Every wobbly step, every hesitation, every fall and every wrong turn was another delay from seeing Natsu.
Lucy knew, deep in her heart, that her desperation for someone else's mate was so... morally wrong and disgusting. She hated herself for that, for not being able to be the better person and back off. But right now, Lucy just wanted to see her partner, and apologize for leaving.
Natsu, hang on, Lucy thought, desperately. She rounded another corner.
I'm almost there. I'm coming.
Natsu's hair was dripping wet.
He'd stepped out of the Guild Hall, going on his daily trip to see Lucy. From the noise, he'd assumed that the rain was pretty heavy.
And now, sopping wet and clad in drenched clothing, one could assume he'd been correct with his assumption.
His hair was drooping downwards, flattening against his head. He looked exhausted, more so than usual. Dark circles hung under his eyes, making his face look a startling white in comparison.
His jaw clenched, he looked like he was ready to kill someone.
This was when the skill came in handy.
Every member of Fairy Tail had picked up a skill since that fateful day, when Natsu had destroyed the train station; interpreting the moods of Natsu Dragneel, and exactly what the cause of that was. The easiest days were the ones when Natsu had a soft look in his eyes, and even deemed the day worthy of a smile. Those were the days when he got lost in the blissful memories of Lucy, and he seemed to almost... accept her passing.
Then there were the days when he wore a permanent brooding expression. Those days, Natsu was simply lost in thought, wondering what do now, and how to recover. How to move on.
Very recently, those days had been put to an end, as he realized he was not moving on. Ever.
Every do often, Natsu got angry. Like today.
He just hated everything, he hated the world for taking away Lucy, he hated that stupid train for taking Lucy away from him and dumping her body in a wasteland, and he hated fate for being so cruel, and most of all he hated himself for just deluding himself with the excuse of 'she makes me sick.'
Those were the days he often went on missions, and annihilated everything in his path.
Now, seeing Natsu glowering with rage, Gray worried that maybe the Guild Hall wasn't the best place for Natsu to be right now. After all, his anger was building, and there was nowhere for it to go, no outlet, no nothing.
But back to the phases of Natsu's moods...
Then there came the crying days. The days Natsu was hit by everything at once, hard, and the grief overwhelmed him. (I'm sorry if I'm making Natsu sound like a pansy, but I promise I'll try and minimize that.)
Natsu didn't have those anymore.
Thank god for that.
Erza didn't know how many more times she could watch Natsu break.
The first clap of thunder, made Lucy jump.
But the first flash of lighting illuminated the Guild banner, proudly hanging off of the giant structure that towered over her, and over all of Magnolia. Lucy was tired, cold, wet, and bleeding.
Glass shards had lodged themselves into her feet, and by now, the pain was catching up with her, and her adrenaline was running out. Lucy felt drained, ready to collapse and just cry for letting herself get hurt so bad.
Her family, just on the other side of those wooden doors, were probably worried sick about her, or at the very least angry for having left on such a long job without leaving so much as a note.
Lucy, finally seeing her destination right in front of her, nearly whooped with joy.
Lucy realized she needed new clothes.
Lucy also realized she needed to have her side stitched up again, or she really was going to bleed out.
And lastsly, even Lucy could recognize that she was in desperate need of her Dragon Slayer.
And then, with a loud bang, and a flash of light (presumably the lightning), the doors of the Fairy Tail guild hall opened.
So... Not completely awful? Alright? Was is WAY too OOC?
-Pyro