(A/N):
I am truly sorry.
I have absolutely no excuses for not updating, I really don't.
I should have updated.
I'm sorry.
{The only people who knew said nothing. The person who experienced it was far gone. She truly wondered what happened that caused all this odd behavior}
Natsu woke with a jolt, bolting up out of his chair. It crashed back and he let out a scream, turning to run, only to trip over the fallen furniture. He landed with a loud thud, waking up Lucy. She woke up slowly, despite the noise, but she suddenly sat up, looking for the source.
The first thing she saw was a panicking Natsu, who was still struggling to stand in his frenzy.
"N-Natsu?" she said, confused. The boy froze, seeming to forget what he was doing. He turned slowly, and his eyes widened when he saw Lucy awake.
"Lucy!" Natsu practically lunged at her, pulling her into a tight bear hug, burying his face in her hair. She was shocked by his reaction, but she quickly regained her senses, hugging him back as best as she could.
She didn't question him. He was probably worried about her. So she hugged him back quietly, waiting until she knew he was ready to talk. His arms soon loosened, and he looked her over.
"Does anything hurt?" He asked, looking incredibly worried. She smiled and shook her head, and he pulled her into yet another hug.
"I though I lost you."
The whisper was so soft, she almost though it was he imagination. When she realized it wasn't, she pulled back, trying to catch Natsu's eyes. She stared in disbelief. Why did he sound so scared?
"I was fine, silly! Why so worried?" The dragon-slayer looked away, almost sheepishly. He tried to smile, to be happy with the fact that she was here awake, but he couldn't, not when the nightmare suddenly came to mind. His stared blankly at the ground next to the bed, his mind in a faraway place.
"Natsu." Lucy snapped her fingers in his face, pulling him out of his revere. He blinked, then stared down at his hands silently.
Had he really done all of that? Had he killed people for something like that? Why did he slip up? Why did he lose control? So many questions swirled in his head, and he almost missed the question Lucy asked.
"What's wrong, Natsu?" the blond asked. He clenched his fists, and looked up. He shook his head.
"Nothing... it's just..." he reached forward, giving her a softer, melancholy hug."Don't ever do that again."
Under normal circumstances, Lucy would have yelled at him. But she could tell by his actions and uncharacteristic gentleness in his usually loud voice that there was an underlying reason for his words. She decided against questioning him once more, and just relished the moment and comforted him as best as she could.
"Lucy! You're awake!"
Erza, Gray, and Happy walked into the hospital room, happy to see their comrade well. The girl smiled and nodded, greeting them.
"So how are you feeling?" Gray asked.
"Fine. By the way, where did you guys go?"
"We went to collect the pay," Erza responded,"Then we reported to the guild to tell the master that we finished the job and that you two were in the hospital."
Lucy hummed."So how did the rest of the job go?"
From the corner of her eye, she could see Natsu tense, and Gray and Erza seemed nervous. Happy appeared to be just as confused as she was by her friend's reactions. The ice mage and the female knight exchanged a glance, then look at Natsu, who stared at his lap. A few beats of awkward silence passed, no one wanting to take initiative.
Finally Gray cleared his throat.
"Natsu finished the job," he mumbled, an odd tone in his voice. Lucy nodded, but remained skeptical, stealing a look at the pink-haired boy, who's face was cleverly turned away. Erza looked at Gray with an inquisitive look, but it passed just as quickly as it came.
Lucy blinked."What's going on?"
Natsu looked up at her, his eyes dull, almost sad. When she met his eyes, he looked away. His mind reeled for words to say, yet no words came to explain. Finally, after the tense quiet had become too thick, Erza spoke.
"W-We'll go get some food." The red-head looked almost sick when she dragged Happy and Gray out of the hospital room, leaving no room for either of them to argue. Not that they wanted to.
Lucy found herself thinking. She knew Erza long enough to infer things from the way she acted. For one thing, she stuttered, which she rarely did. For another, there was the sickened look on her countenance. If it was something embarrassing, that look wouldn't be there. In addition to this was Gray's nervousness, something the true-to-his-name ice mage would never allow himself to be. Lastly, there was Natsu's uncharacteristic brooding and guilt.
It all came together as an unfinished puzzle, but based off the jumbled mystery, she could deduce one very important thing.
Something very very wrong happened on the job.
The ride home two days later was full of obviously forced nonchalance. Gray and Erza chatted lightly with Lucy at times, but Natsu was the only one who didn't act like everything was alright. The blond haired girl found his behavior strange, of course, because even if Natsu was feeling down, he would rebound rather quickly. However, he seemed to be lost in thought ever since she had been discharged from the hospital. She could not rouse him from his rumination, even if she mentioned his favorite things.
He seemed almost...scarred.
At the moment, he was staring at the wall across his bench, a pail set on the floor in front of him. His face was pale, but he didn't even seem to acknowledge by the normal motion sickness.
"Hey Happy?"
The cat, who was sitting next to her, didn't respond, staring at the sick boy who sat in the next booth. He, too, seemed lost in thought, but not in the way she found Natsu. Lucy assumed he was also thinking about the uncharacteristically silent dragon-slayer, being as Natsu was practically his dad.
"Happy..." Lucy sang, trying to get his attention once blue cat flinched, looking up at the girl.
"Y-Yeah?"
"Did you get hurt on the mission?" Happy seemed confused, as he didn't expect this question. The mage also knew that he was anticipating an inquiry about Natsu, but she didn't want to talk about that at the moment.
Happy shook his head."No... but that's because Natsu protected me!" A grin lit his face, proud of the good friend/father figure. Then it sank again."I just wish he'd tell me what was wrong."
Lucy patted his head lightly, a small smile on her face.
"He doesn't seem to want to talk about it at the moment, so I guess we'll just give him some space for now, and ask some other time. I mean, being as he is Natsu-of all people-it couldn't possibly be too serious, right?"
The blue cat once again smiled, and nodded happily, like a child who had just been given a wonderful compliment.
"Aye sir!"
The next few days, Natsu did not turn up at the guild. Lucy, true to her word, did not pry. Even though he was adamant on finding out what was bothering others, and was never great at concealing what he felt or thought, she knew he would never tell her. As far as his ability to cover things up was concerned, Natsu couldn't pull it off, but one could never find the direct source of his problems if one was not there to hear it from him.
Happy kept her and the guild updated on Natsu's condition, telling the guild that Natsu was too tired to get up. When question, he would merely say, "that's what Natsu said was wrong. He won't say anything else."
This happened for two more days after the mission, until Erza went up to his cottage to demand answers on the third day.
No one knew what the pink haired boy told Erza, but when she came back, she said he was completely find, with an odd, indistinguishable look on her face. The blue haired companion came back with her, saying he didn't hear what was said between the two.
On that day, Lucy went to bed with on goal on her mind for the coming tomorrow. She was going to visit him, and make sure he was truly alright.
The next morning was the start of it all.
(A/N):
As I said above, I am an idiot, and I'm sorry it's been so long.
You see, this morning I got a very inspiring review, saying I should not give up on this story.
Suddenly, I was filled with this courage to crawl back and update. I was scared that after my absence, I would receive bad reviews, so I thought I could avoid it.
But then I got that review, and I crumbled and reformed.
As you can see, my writing has become a bit more sophisticated, so it's been that long.
Again I am sorry.
Another chapter will be posted in the next hour or so, depending on my mom's ability to keep track of time and send me to bed.
~Cool Noodles in Awesome Sauce~
