It's finally happening, Lucy thought tearfully.
Deep down, she'd always known it was going to come to this. Being a Fairy Tail mage- especially working with the team she did- it was inevitable, though she'd done her best to avoid it.
But her efforts were truly in vain.
Mira shot the celestial mage a concerned look as Lucy banged her head into the counter for the third time in the past ten minutes. It went unnoticed, as Lucy was face down. The blonde's eyes teared up slightly, but not from the contact with the wooden surface.
Rent was due tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow.
I'm going to end up homeless!
A gust of frigid wind wrapped around her as the guild doors opened. She lifted her head slightly, only to let it bang into the bar counter again.
Correction: she was going to end up homeless in the dead of winter.
"Lucy, is everything alright?" Mira asked. The barkeep set down the glass she had been polishing.
"Mm. Mm hmm-mm mm-"
"It's rude to mutter at people…"
Lucy heaved a sigh and tilted her head slowly, replacing her forehead with her cheek. Three weeks and that duo still wouldn't leave her thoughts. She fingered the golden egg on the bracelet she wore. "So you don't end up like us," he'd said.
"Lucy?" Now Mirajane was really worried. Her friend normally spilled her guts when given a chance to complain. Then again, things hadn't been normal since…
"Huh?" Large, chocolate-colored eyes blinked as their owner straightened up. "Oh. Sorry, Mira." Lucy removed her hands from the charm. She sighed again, expression downcast as her earlier train of thought returned. "I don't know what to do about my rent!" she wailed.
Now it was Mira's turn to blink. That's all? A sly grin spread across her face. The barkeep had an idea- a wonderful idea. "Have you thought about going on another job?"
Lucy's head made contact with the counter again. But her voice was clear as she said, "There aren't any solo missions that pay well enough, and Erza dragged N- the boys off last week remember?" A shiver that had nothing to do with the cold went down Luce's spine; apparently, this time of the season was "bonding time" (emergency training time) for Erza, Natsu, Gray, Happy, the guys of Shadow Gear and the Thunder Tribe. And there would be a fate worse than hell to pay if Erza didn't witness them getting along.
Lucy had been lucky enough not to be round when Erza had tried to recruit her. Thank goodness for Virgo.
"Well," the transformation mage began, "you could always stay with someone until winter's over?" Mira turned around to hide the grin that wouldn't leave. No one ever said she couldn't influence the betting. Actually, there was that one time that the Thunder Tribe had tried to, before Laxus started acting out, but Freed had sworn the guild to secrecy (used runes on the entire guild to silence them upon pain of death).
(Good times, Mira thought fondly.)
Lucy just looked up at the other mage. "Who, Mira? Fairy Hills is full, your place has no room, I'd drown if I asked Gray- and I really don't feel like dying!"
"What about Natsu?" Cloyingly sweet.
"No." Cold. Flat. Emphatic, when compared to the impassioned way the blonde had been speaking a second ago.
Mira turned around with a frown on her face. "Are you and Natsu still not speaking?"
Countertop, you were well acquainted with Lucy's forehead, right? No? Okay, take another look. (At this rate, there'd be a Lucy-shaped dent…)
"He nearly razed my apartment building to the ground just before he left, remember? He's the reason why I can't make rent!" Sure, he'd supposedly meant well. But lighting a fire in the oven did not work the same as lighting one in a fireplace- especially since she had a fireplace! Besides, he never cleans his house! I'd die of salmonella or something before nightfall!
"Oh, I thought you wouldn't know where to find his place. Lisanna used to get lost all the time when she tried to visit." Luce's eyes widened. Mira could read minds?! That actually explained so very, very much. "It's not that surprising," Mira continued, "since he does live in the woods. And I'm sure the bacteria wouldn't get to you for at least a week."
"…Did I say that last part out loud?"
"Mm-hmm."
Huh. (Lucy was still hanging onto the mind-reading theory.)
There was relative silence for a moment. Then, "No. Still don't think it would be a good idea to stay at Natsu's."
"Why not?" Mira had to turn around again and find another glass to polish; the grin was back.
In truth, Natsu had been acting weird ever since- ever since those two had arrived. Or maybe a bit before that. But Lucy was hesitant to bring that up with Mira after the last time she'd brought up Natsu-related issues (and ended up seriously thinking that he was in love with her for, only to be proven wrong in a humiliating fashion). "Other than the fact that I can't ask if he's okay with it until after I get kicked out?" Erza had said something about being away for two weeks.
Mira hummed and set down the glass on the counter. She leaned towards the blonde and raised her hand as if sharing a great secret, whispering, "But he's your partner, isn't he?" Her face was dead serious.
Lucy pulled back. She eyed the other girl suspiciously; somehow, she felt like this was a trap. Carefully, she answered, "Yeah."
Mira wasn't deterred. "And he stays at your place all the time, right?"
"…Yes." Now, recalling a few earlier comments about this behavior, Lucy was certain this was a trap.
Mira suddenly grinned again. "Then he can't say anything about it. Doubly so, since he's the one who made you use up your rent money on repairs." She winked.
Lucy churned the idea over in her mind. Yes, this was probably still a trap. And yes, she was certain the bacteria in that disaster zone he called home would kill her (which Mirajane seemed to agree with her upon). But it was either that or end up on the streets in the dead of winter, and freeze to death… Wait a second.
A thought occurred to her. "Can't I just stay here at the guild?"
Why was I worrying so much about this? That's the perfect-
"I suppose you could, but the infirmary's always full after a bonding trip with Erza. And we do have a reputation..."
"…For being the rowdiest guild." Lucy's head returned to the wood, which now had a slight indent. Mira was right; if she stayed at the guild, she'd never get any rest. She let out the sigh to end all sighs. "But what if I get snowed in over there?" she whined. "And it takes forever to get that place even moderately clean."
Mira patted the other mage's shoulder with what would have been sympathy, if not for the gleam in her eyes. "I'll make sure you have food just in case- Mavis knows he never keeps his place stocked up- but I sincerely doubt it will come to that." She hadn't known that Lucy had cleaned Natsu's house before; normally he made a big stink whenever someone touched his stuff. He even whined when Erza did it (though he wisely shut up when the redhead told him to). I'll have to change my bet.
The blonde let out another sigh. "Fine. It's not like I really have a choice anyway."
"That's the spirit."
Lucy left, promising to return soon. She just needed to do something first.
"That's not a problem," the landlady assured her. The woman was wearing a lovely red cardigan that Lucy could swear was from her own closet. The envelope of Jewels- less than half the amount owed for the month- was tucked into a pocket of said sweater. "But I can't let you stay there until you can pay the rest, dear." The endearment sent a shiver down the blonde's spine, but she forced a smile.
"I understand." This was, after all, the third time they'd had to have this conversation since her return from Tenrou Island.
At least she didn't have to worry about someone else moving in or her stuff getting tossed out.
"..be gone?"
"Huh?" Lucy blinked.
Her landlady gave her a strained smile. "It's just that the last time you said you'd be away, you vanished for seven years."
The celestial spirit mage made sure her grin was firmly in place when she answered. "It should only be a couple of weeks." That was enough time to for the others to get back, heal up from Erza's tough love and take a job, wasn't it?
In hindsight, she was beginning to wonder if she should have haggled for a rent-to-own situation.
"Alright then."
Lucy thanked the woman, and was about to leave, when the landlady said, "You'll tell that young man of yours about our agreement, yes?"
"…You mean Nastu?" The lady nodded at her, eyes narrowed. There was no love lost between the two of them; nearly burning down someone's property more than several times did stuff like that. Lucy gave an awkward laugh. "That shouldn't be a problem. Honest," she added when the expression on the other woman's face remained cloudy. Though her landlady's face was still thunderous, Lucy received a nod. She thanked her a second time, and then went to pack.
Just before she shut her door for what would be the last time for at least a week, Lucy remembered what her landlady had said about Natsu.
She hurried over to her bed, locked the window and shut the curtains. "That should do it." After two years (if one didn't count the Tenrou incident), she had finally managed to drum one thing about privacy into her partner's head: Natsu was not, under any circumstances, to enter her room if the window was locked. That didn't mean he always listened- but he was somewhat conscious of her inability to stand the cold, and seemed to make an effort to barge in through the window less during winter.
Lucy glanced around a second time, making sure she hadn't forgotten anything. After a moment's hesitation, she grabbed her comforter and rolled it up to fit in the crook of her arm.
Then she left.
After returning to the guild and grabbing the promised supplies from Mira (which turned out to mostly be jerky and powdered soup), the blonde trekked through the slush and broke into Natsu's cottage. Though she wasn't sure it counted as breaking and entering, since his door was unlocked.
It wasn't quite as messy as the last time she'd been there, but it was still a mess.
She sighed, which turned to coughing as dust entered her lungs. "Well," she said, placing a hand over her nose and dragging her stuff over to Natsu's hammock, "I guess I should get started."
"WE MADE IT BACK ALIVE!" Natsu could remember few circumstances in which he'd been this grateful to shout those words and hear the answering, "Welcome back!" Bonding with Erza- being used as a punching bag over her frustrations with Jellal- for nearly three weeks, while being unable to so much as look cross-eyed at Gray, was too much.
(The Strauss sisters of his mind piped up, "Not to mention being away from-"
The guild? They glared at him, but he was too tired to care.)
He felt utterly drained, and collapsed into the first open seat he came across. But his dark eyes looked around.
Happy, Gray, the Thunder Tribe, and Jet and Droy (who Erza felt had needed the training) followed his lead. Happy was asleep before he landed on the table.
Erza simply walked in, smiling, and hopped up onto a barstool, asking Mira for cake. Lisanna made sure the doors were shut tight, wincing as she took in the sight of snow melting on the wooden floor.
A frown settled on the rosette's face when his gaze couldn't find what he was searching for. He sat up straight, inhaling deeply. His frown deepened. Natsu walked over to the bar, heart thumping. "Oi, Mira. Where's Luce?"
The white-haired woman gave him a rueful smile. "I haven't seen her in a couple of days."
The words set off alarms in his head. "When was the last time you saw her?"
"Tuesday?" Mira gave a shrug that, had he been paying more attention or been less, he would have recognized as uncharacteristic. As a part of her usual schemes. "She…"
Natsu tuned her out. Tuesday? That was almost a week ago!
"I'm gonna go," he barely managed to murmur from behind clenched teeth.
"Natsu?" The door swung shut behind him before the transformation mage even formed his name. "He didn't even stay to hear the news."
Erza's eyes snapped to her. "What news?"
It wasn't that he was worried, he told his brain's newest residents. He just needed to…
The thought of Lucy, stuck inside because of snow, slowly turning blue from cold as her stomach growled nearly made him trip.
Okay, fine, he snapped at them, racing over the rooftops. I'm worried. For some reason, this made the pale-haired sisters smile. But the scowl he wore was etched deeply into his face.
Luce had a habit of isolating herself when she was starting to feel down. And that would have been his assumption ('cause she'd done it before), if not for the fact that she had been worried about being snowed in. He would have gone looking for her anyway, of course.
But now he had reason to fear for her wellbeing.
He spotted the apartment on Strawberry Street and hopped across the street. Quickly, he dropped from the eaves to hang in front of her window, only momentarily confused by the sight of the curtains being drawn during the day. "Must have closed them to keep warm."
He had warned her that putting her bed next to the window wasn't a good idea.
One tanned hand reached out to pull up the window and he-
He found that it wouldn't move.
"Luce?" He knocked on the sill, growing panicked when he didn't hear any noise from within.
He wrenched the window upwards with enough force to yank the lock from its bolts. And then he ripped the curtains apart.
He froze.
The room was empty. Yes, there was furniture, but the little traces of Lucy were missing; the chest that held letters to her parents was gone; her still unfinished novel wasn't on the desk; her warm pink comforter was gone; her wardrobe was empty. Most worrying: Lucy was gone. He inhaled deeply, trying to see if his eyes were feeding him the wrong information.
But no.
Lucy's scent was old. At least several days had passed since she'd been there.
And Mira hasn't seen her since Tuesday.
He dropped down to the snow covered street, pulling the window shut as he fell. Anything could have happened since then. She could have gotten lost in yesterday's snow storm. She could have been taken-
She could have been taken. Luce had been kidnapped more often than he liked to think about. That he hadn't seen or smelled a struggle didn't mean she hadn't been dragged away.
He swore, hands igniting, snow evaporating around him. "I knew I should have brought her with us."
Mira had realized Natsu was upset about Lucy. The first few times she had let Lisanna out of her sight after finding her again, she had nearly had a panic attack. So, knowing that Natsu was deeply, passionately in love with his partner and that her guild members tended to be a bit… extreme, Mira had known that he would panic a little.
She did not expect him to come bursting through the guild doors less than a half hour after he'd left, eyes wild and body steaming. He stalked up to the counter, and Mira thought she saw a hint of scales on his neck- and not the white ones on his scarf.
(Lisanna would have shut the doors- or persuaded Bickslow, the only one from the group of returnees who'd stayed, to do it for her- to prevent snow from swirling in on the breeze. But the courtyard was strangely devoid of snow, and the guild was just a tiny bit too toasty for her liking.)
Natsu's voice was gravelly when he spoke. "She's not here." Smoke tumbled from his mouth as the words came out.
Wakaba snorted from his position over at one of the tables. "Of course she's not. Like Mira said, L-"
"She's not in Magnolia." He acted as if he hadn't heard the man speak. His eyes- normally a deep pool of obsidian- were a burning pale green that kept themselves trained on Mira. His gaze was one of a predator being kept from its prey.
For a moment, Mira was tempted, very, very tempted, to use her Demon Soul form. But instead, she fought down the feeling and said, "I tried to tell you earlier, Natsu. Lucy…"
Somehow his gaze became more intense. It made her pause, remember something. "She was evicted."
"What?" he nearly hissed.
"Mm-hmm. She said she couldn't make rent, so I helped her find somewhere to stay and made sure she'd have some food in case she got snowed in."
"Oh." Natsu seemed to deflate. The weight in his chest certainly had. "Oh. For a moment…"
"Yes?"
He wouldn't say. "Where is it?"
Mira blinked. Took in his appearance with a fond smile. "You might want to head home and change fir-"
"No."
"You'll give her a heart attack if you show up like that."
Natsu grumbled but accepted her reasoning. "But I'm coming right back," he warned on his way out.
Lisanna shut the door behind him, as the guild's temperature had finally started to cool down. She then went over to the bar. "You know, the only times I've ever seen him like that usually involve Lucy."
Mirajane hummed in reply, the memory from earlier still fresh in her mind.
"You guys… You really don't know, do you?"
"Maybe we don't," she said softly.
"Sis? Did you say something?"
"No," Mira said with a thoughtful expression. I'm sure it's nothing.
"I hope, for all our sakes..."
She shivered.
Word Count: Approx. 3100
