"You sure this is it?" Natsu asked, watching Lucy walk back and forth in front of a newer apartment complex.
"Positive," Lucy said, "the caster should be in the first room, right there." She pointed to the left corner, and the two of them walked inside, weary of danger. The hall let them out exactly in front of the door and Lucy gave a tentative knock, holding her whip in one hand and keys ready in the other.
"Fac horologium vicissim reportat quod fuit." They heard from inside the room. The static sound was louder than ever, and when Natsu saw Lucy put a hand to her head, he didn't hesitate knocking down the door.
There was a kid, maybe ten years old, sitting in a circle surrounded by candles, holding a silver key.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Natsu demanded, stepping into the circle. The boy looked panicked now, he kept chanting the same line over and over again. Natsu tried to pick up the kid, but was stopped by a rune barrier. It seemed to the kind you find in stores, they could over power it with time, but Lucy knew a short-cut. Lucy stepped next to Natsu and stuck her key through it. Yep, only stops humans.
"Open, gate of the Ram," she called, and Aries appeared.
"Sorry!" she said, "what do you need Lucy?"
"Can you put some wool in his mouth to stop the spell?" Lucy said hurriedly, he was getting louder and Lucy could feel the magic in the room growing.
"Um, sure," just as she was about to shoot fluffy wool, a metal dog champed on her leg, making her squeak and evaporate.
"What the?" Natsu asked, as a whole herd of creatures made from different materials came to the aid of the young wizard.
They started attacking and together Natsu and Lucy fended off the creatures, falling into each other's attack patterns like they had never been apart.
"What are these things?" Natsu asked, burning a wooden squirrel to a crisp.
"I think he's a seith mage," Lucy commented, kicking away the metal dog that had bitten Aries, her heels leaving a huge dent. "I have an idea, let me next to the barrier and cover me." Natsu nodded and watched her in the corner of his eye as he made a shield around them of fire. Lucy would get hot, but the creatures would burn.
Her whip passed through the barrier, and with accuracy Natsu had never seen before, she snatched the silver key out of the boy's hands. The magic in the room disappeared as Lucy fingered the tarnished key.
"Hey! Give that back! I need it to save my sister!" he tried tackling Lucy, but as soon as he was outside the barrier, the black-haired kid was picked up by the back of his jacket.
"Now, what do you think you're doing casting time spells with a celestial key," Natsu asked as the boy tried and failed to escape.
"I told you, I'm saving my sister! Now let me go!"
"Where is your sister?" Lucy asked. The boy froze, and bowed his head. Lucy crouched to look at his face, only get kicked in the chest. Natsu slammed the boy against the nearest wall before pulling him back. The boy wasn't knocked out, but he was disoriented.
"That was uncalled for, don't ever kick someone trying to help you," Natsu said, holding back the majority of his anger. The makeshift animals were watching their master wearily.
"The spell would bring back my sister," the boy said again. Lucy stared at him, thinking, absentmindedly gently checking footprint on her shirt and deciding that while the shirt needed cleaning, it wouldn't even bruise. What was going on clicked, and she watched the boy struggle with sad eyes.
"You're sister is dead, isn't she?" Lucy asked, and Natsu looked at her confused. The boy didn't respond.
"Why do you think that?" Natsu asked.
"His magic level is way too high for it to be anything but spontaneous magic at this age, Mira and Erza had it, which is why they were so powerful as little kids. Only extreme situations could force magic into existence. Plus everyone knows time spells are risky, you only do that if you're desperate." The boy seemed sick of Lucy talking for him.
"There was an attack, Forest Vulcans, but they were different. These ones were crazy, they were hurting people. My dad trusted me to take care of my little sister, but they made the house catch on fire. The wooden animals my mom loved to carve came alive and helped me dig her out, but Anna wasn't breathing." The boy glared at Lucy and Natsu now.
"That spell could have saved her! It would have taken me back to the moment just before the house collapsed and I could have gotten her out quick enough. So give me back the key!" Lucy looked at the key for Pegasus in her hand. The static from the celestial world had stopped.
Something about his story sounded familiar, and it took Lucy a second to place it.
Flashback:
"Item number 26," the man droned on. The Council sent a different unlucky soul this week. Lucy was ninety percent sure the Council used being moderator at guildmaster meetings as a threat to keep their people in line. Sting was nodding off again, so she pushed her foot against his, bringing him back.
"This item regards the incident between Mermaid Heel and Saber Tooth when an emergency request was sent out to the guilds for help dealing with a Vulcan attack. Reports show that two miles before the town the groups from different guilds met and started arguing over who would get the reward for the emergency request and it escalated to physical violence. This delayed helping the village and most of it was destroyed. New legislation is being proposed to require the help of emergency requests no matter the state of the reward, and the reward will be dealt within two weeks of solving the emergency request. It will be given to the mages reported to have helped the most." Sting refused to look everyone in the eye as other people gave comments.
"Who was it?" Lucy asked under her breath.
"Yukino was planning on using Pisces," Sting mumbled back, "she was with Rufus and they were showing the ropes to a new member named Mato. She was heartbroken when she saw the damage. People crying everywhere over their lost homes."
"Well, that's what we're here to fix," Lucy replied. Focusing on the comments, being made, some of them sounded like her father, only concerned about the reward, which made her sick to her stomach. Luckily most of the comments stemmed towards helping emergency requests first, and it was decided in favor of later.
End Flashback.
She had wondered what happened to those people, now one of them was crying in Natsu's hold.
"Your spell was unstable," she said, using her magic to feel how the key was affecting the boundary between worlds, she had felt the same thing at the eclipse gate, which is one of the reasons she called on Crux back then to verify, but she recognized the feeling this time around. Being Real Nightmare for a little while had also sharpened her senses to the time discrepancies between Earthland and the Celestial World.
"The spell would have sent you back to the moment, but you would be stuck reliving the moment of her death over and over again. The spell acknowledges the permanence of time, and a silver key wielded by a non-celestial mage wouldn't be able to change anything."
"You-you're lying," the boy cried, "I have to save my sister!" Lucy noticed the clock in the room and winced, she had fifteen minutes before she had to rush back.
"Look, Lucy knows her stuff, if she says she saved you from living the worst moment of your life over and over again, you should believe her," Natsu said, releasing the boy. He shook his head in denial, but didn't attack them.
"Death is hard," Lucy said, tearing up at the sight of it breaking such a young boy, "it doesn't get better. But you know what? The dead are happy okay?" He looked up at her then, eyes red from trying not to cry.
"What?"
"The dead are at peace, or they would be if the ones they cared about lived their lives to the fullest."
"But-but, I can't just let my sister stay dead," he protested weakly. Lucy hugged him then. "I was supposed to protect her."
"You should let her be happy," Lucy said, he tried to struggle for a moment, but started holding her and crying instead.
"They can't take her away, she was so nice and excited all the time. The last thing I said to her was that she was such a slow-poke, I can't let that be the last thing I say to her." He was crying, Lucy was crying, and Natsu was crying.
"What is wrong with you?" the boy demanded, recovering first. "You're adults, aren't you never supposed to cry?" Lucy and Natsu laughed, sharing a smile.
"We get hurt too, sorry kid," Natsu said. Lucy released the boy and picked up the spell that looked torn out of a book, she folded it and tucked it into her bra.
"Hey, if you don't have anywhere to go," Lucy offered, "Want to come to Fairy Tail?"
"Why would I do that?" he said, kicking at the floor, "and my name is Kai." His stomach chose that moment to growl.
"For starters, it's a way to get money for food," Natsu said, "how about I take you out, my treat, and we can talk about it, while Lucy goes back to a very important meeting." They both watched Kia hesitate, glancing at his animated companions.
"Can I bring my friends?" he asked hesitantly. The dented dog came to his side and put his head under the boy's hand.
"Sure, the more the merrier," Natsu answered with a smile, and Kia nodded.
"Aww," Lucy said, scooping down to give Kia one last hug, "okay, I've got to run. I hope you decide to join Fairy Tail." Lucy was running out the door.
Lucy crashed into the meeting hall just as Sting was speaking about the need to show the people they can trust the mage guilds even if they have done bad things in the past, and they needed to start with wizards inside themselves. After her loud entrance, Lucy did her best to respectfully take her seat and listen to the rest of Sting's speech.
"We will now come to a vote," the moderator said, groan barely contained. "All in favor of allowing the Magic Council access to guild criminal records and instigate an investigation, please raise your hand." Lucy kept her hand down, but not enough people did, the decision wasn't a two-thirds majority yet. Lucy looked at the people voting one way or another and tried to think up a plan, a solution, anything. She wasn't opposed to violence, Fairy Tail would win hands down (every member had thrown themselves into training, even more so than before the Games), but it would suck to keep butting heads with the magic council. Believe it or not, Fairy Tail was pro Magic Council when they weren't harming their friends.
"Very well, we will reconvene tomorrow morning, have a three hour block of discussion then, and try voting again. Remember than any attempt to coerce or buy another guild master's vote is severely frowned upon and all will be subject to banishment for up to a year from meetings. Dismissed." No one was happy as they left the table, many alliances forming as people grouped together to continue speaking on the issue.
Sting slung an arm around Lucy and walked her out. She was used to his antics by now, and even welcomed the warmth of another person. People joked in master's meetings about the two of them becoming a couple and creating an unstoppable guild and what they were willing to do to stop it from happening. Magazines took it seriously and suspected they were in a secret relationship. Neither of them had tried to go for anything more though, as far as they were concerned, they were both just great friends.
"So, what was the problem?" Sting asked as they left, and Lucy sighed.
"First I need you to be thinking of counter proposals for this new law, we are getting nowhere."
Sting sighed, "Fine, I'll put my brain to the task all night, but I want to know who was messing with time spells. That's forbidden magic right there." It had been made forbidden after Hisui's screw up at the games, she herself being the largest supporter of it, instead of just a lost magic.
"It was a little kid," Lucy said absently, snuggling into Stings warmth as he lead her into a bar with awesome food they frequented after every meeting. "He lost his sister in the fire the guilds didn't stop. To get her back he wanted to re-wind time, but he was using a silver key. The imprints of the spell made it seem like the spell would actually force himself to live the moment over and over again until he died."
"Hey," Sting said, snapping his fingers in front of her face, "you stopped him though. Everything is safe? I'm betting you didn't even get the chance to show off your new magic to Natsu."
"I don't want to show off for Natsu. I want to never see him again." Lucy growled back at Sting.
"Well, that doesn't seem likely to happen," Sting snorted, tell the waitress their order. It was the same every time they came here.
"He'll get the hint eventually," Lucy assured him, "He isn't as emotionally stupid as he seems."
"Do you think you'll ever forgive him? You know what he was going through and why he did what he did." Sting frowned at his friend. Lucy knew Sting would take Natsu's side on this, but that didn't mean she had to like it.
"I've forgiven him," Lucy clarified, "I just can't have him back in my life. If he's going to take off when I need him, well," she stared off in the wall, and Sting wondered what she was seeing, "I can't let anyone break me like that again." Understanding lit Sting's eyes. He remembered something Loke about Lucy, that she was not okay after Natsu left.
"Oh, I get it, you're scared," Sting said without thinking. A second later his head was being smashed into the table by a surprisingly strong celestial wizard.
"Say that again," Lucy threatened. Geeze, Sting hadn't made her this angry since he called her a sell-out after using Bob's files. Still, Sting bowed to no one, not even Lucy. He was stronger than her, dragon slayer magic made him that no matter how many crunches she did.
He used his arm strength to flip her onto their table, and held her glaring self down by her shoulders. Lucy wasn't the powerhouse that Natsu was, but she wasn't a weakling either. If they really got into it here, the place would get destroyed, They both knew it, which is why Lucy wasn't struggling. If there was a part of her mind selecting celestial spirits (Loke was out as Sting would consume his light magic) it was deep in her mind.
"You need to control that temper," Sting teased, trying to lighten the mood, they were drawing attention, "I didn't say you didn't have a right to be guarded, I said that you were scared of being hurt emotionally again. That's not a bad thing, it protects us."
Lucy searched his face upside down, looking for any hint of mocking or insincerity, but found nothing to be angry about except the truth.
"Let me up, I'll behave," she grumbled and Sting let her swing herself off the table and back into her chair.
"Touchy much?" Sting chided, accepting a drink from the waiter who decided it was safe to approach them.
"Very," Lucy seethed back, "Natsu broke promises, I've forgiven him, I understand why he did it, but nothing says I have to trust him again. It doesn't matter how many sweet things he says."
"Oh, so he is trying to charm you," Sting latched on, smirking.
"Trying being the operative word," Lucy said ruefully. She was sick of being angry all the time. "Him and Gray, I swear either I'll kill them or they'll kill me. You do know you are Natsu's replacement right?" Lucy teased. He feigned being wounded.
"Words like barbs, are you trying to hurt my feelings? Besides," and he slid closer to her and put an arm around her shoulders, "I prefer to think of it as an upgrade." Lucy laughed and pushed him off.
"Maybe telling him that you're my boyfriend will get him off my back, Loke would love to play the part too, though there are so many reasons that wouldn't work out." Lucy mused.
"Nah, Natsu's probably already going to kick my butt, he hasn't had to spend so much time sitting in boring meetings instead of training, if you're my girlfriend he'll go overboard and I might not survive. You don't want to be the reason Fairy Tail and Saber Tooth go to war, do you?"
"Nah, I need you too much on the council. Trying to train someone else would take too much effort." Their food arrived then and Sting remembered his original inquiry.
"You never told me about the rouge wizard, and I seem to remember training you those first few times," Sting said before stuffing his mouth.
"Only if you get the tab," Lucy responded with a smirk.
"Deal." Lucy took a second to figure out how much she wanted to tell her friend, and decided that everything would be best. It might help Sting become more motivated to think of new solutions for item 37.
"So, you're going to take in a kid who practiced illegal magic because he wanted to fix something that was Saber and Mermaid's fault to begin with," Sting said, relaxing in his chair, full.
"Yep, I can't let him have a record with the Magic Council, even if he chooses another guild." Lucy said, staring off again.
"No other guild would take him Lucy," Sting said suddenly, not believing she hadn't realized it yet. The confused look she gave him left him floored, how could she be so oblivious?
"A mage dies on a job and not only does it reflect badly on the guild job wise, but a life is lost. Fairy Tail is the only one who has ever risked that responsibility." Lucy shook her head.
"No, didn't you and Rogue join Saber Tooth as kids?" she asked, never quite getting the story from when she was locked in time.
"We were fifteen," Sting said, "We trained for five months and even then the master only let us in after we beat the crap out of six of his members. That's not what you're offering the kid. You're offering him adulthood and the protection of the Fairy Tail guild."
"His magic is spontaneous," Lucy said, still not looking at Sting, "It's enormous for a ten-year-old, it took Bixlow ages to reach the point he is at, and that's what makes him able to live the life of an adult. Never under estimate a kid with a desire to protect those he cares about. They turn into the Grays, Erzas, Canas, and Mirajanes. Plus we would never let him out on truly hard jobs, Mira has an accurate guess at the abilities of everyone in the guild and never lets someone take a job she knows they can't handle." Sting considered her words, would he ever be able to let a child live among the Tigers of Sabertooth? Strength was still too important of a factor in his guild, that's no way to have a kid grow up. Then he realized something.
"That's how you do it!" Sting yelled, slamming a fist on the table, startling Lucy.
"Do what?"
"Stay at the top rating! You have less members than almost every other guild, yet you get the same amount of requests filled, if not more. You're kids have to pay for themselves, so they take all the small jobs, and lots of them to make rent, get tons of experience and their names spread around, then your older members take all the hard jobs, simultaneously making them stronger than if they had the easy way out. You cheater!" Sting accused, wagging a finger at Lucy, who smiled.
"Hey, I don't know what you're talking about," she said, leaning back in her chair. Sting just glared.
"Fine, you caught me, that's not why we let kids in, but it's how it works out. Truth is, my guild is too strong. You saw us at the Games, one year isn't enough time to make that much difference in magic power, unless there really is a need to. Fairy Tail was broken, we healed stronger and were determined to never to break again. You should see the training routines of some of my guys, Tartarus would be road kill if they came at us again at the strength level they used back then. No one is going to settle for easy jobs anymore, it doesn't make them stronger, it doesn't make them strong enough to protect the ones they care about.. .People who took the easy route before know better now." Sting saw the haunting in her eyes, he had only seen it three times before. Nothing about Fairy Tail was soft, but everything was, including their guild master. It was a contradiction that boggled Sting.
She cares about people, still wore her emotions on her sleeve, but would cut someone in half if it came down to it. At the same time that her three young ones in the guild, four if the new kid joined, would find the warmest home on the face of the planet, they would be tested and put through the fire and burned into new beings of strength and power. He could see it, Lucy slowly letting them take on more difficult jobs, them watching as Fairy Tail's finest dealt with emotional trama and they inevitably lost someone from their living-on-the-edge life style. You could not ride passion your entire life and expect never to get hurt.
Fairy Tail shone brightly, but it was entirely possible they would burn out twice as fast. It was a risk they were all willing to take. Sting would protect that brightness, even if it wasn't for him. He was planning on living to a ripe old age, full of power and money, thank you very much.
"Sorry, are you ready to go?" Lucy asked, looking at her companion.
"Sure Lucy," he said, leaving the money to cover both their meals on the table with a generous tip.
"Um, sounds like Natsu and the kid are in your room, both asleep," Sting informed his friend.
"What?" Lucy said, before rushing to open the door and letting the light from the hall shine on her bed. Sure enough, there was Natsu and Kia, snuggled up and sleeping like father and son. Lucy could feel a groan coming on, but didn't want to disturb the kid. If Sting was honest and no one else would take Kia in despite his ability, she needed him to join Fairy Tail more than ever. Sting was watching her too, so she closed the door.
"I'm sleeping in your room tonight." she said, going back down the hall towards his room.
"What? No!" But it was futile. Sting was a little surprised she was okay sharing the bed with him, and while he was a little miffed he didn't have the king size all to himself, it could have been worse. Plus she smelled nice and her body heat was already warming up the bed.
Natsu would probably kill him in the morning, but it felt almost sacred, this showing of vulnerability as she breathed in little puffs, already conked out. The only people who saw you sleep in a bed were parents and lovers, he was honored she trusted him with this privilege.
"LUCY!" The shouting woke her up the next morning, she could hear Natsu running up and down the hall.
"wahh?" Sting yawned beside her. Lucy jumped, before remembering everything that had happened. "Lucy, go calm your boyfriend."
"Not my boyfriend, not my partner," Lucy grumbled, pulling the pillow over her head to muffle the noise. Natsu was pounding on their door then, yelling about how he heard Lucy's voice, and Lucy was a bit surprised it hadn't caved yet.
The pillow was ripped from her.
"Your nakama though, go shut him up," Sting glared putting the pillow over his own head and yanking the sheets off Lucy.
She grumbled about having to answer the door, but her talking seemed to silence Natsu.
"Stop screaming like a crazy person," Lucy scolded as she opened the door, using her other hand to brush her bangs out of her face. Natsu's mouth dropped open and Lucy looked down only to remember she hadn't been able to grab her own night clothes so she was sleeping in Sting's shirt. His eyes went wide.
"So, uh, you and Sting, uh, sorry, bye." He grabbed the handle and closed the door for her, before she could possibly explain, and now Lucy had a choice. Let him think her and Sting were a thing while she caught a few more hours of shut eye, or go set the record straight with one of her nakama. It was very tempting, especially since she still had no idea what to do about the proposal, and a couple of hours of sleep might make all the difference, but Sting was right. Natsu was still nakama, while he had that mark on his shoulder and long after it was gone.
I consider everyone in Fairy Tail my friend.
Natsu's words had a habit of coming to guilt her whenever she thought about making a bad decision. Good thing Lucy was such a good girl, he didn't haunt her very often. She took her clothes from yesterday, quickly changed in the bathroom, and rushed after the dragonslayer, only stopping when she saw Kai in the breakfast buffet area.
"He went that way, Tom can show you where," and a little metal bird that was sitting on Kai's shoulder took flight. Lucy said a quick thanks before following the bird, she presumed to be Tom, out of the building. Of course the idiot headed straight for the woods, and she almost lost her guide twice before she came on him sitting by a stream on a rocky outcropping.
"I'm sorry for disturbing you Lucy, please go back to your boyfriend." Natsu said, not looking at her. It was finally time to talk.
There was a time, like last week, where Lucy imagined Natsu coming and her demanding answers, and she had a whole slew of accusation ready for when he protested. She still had enough emotional baggage to act as ammunition even against a dragon slayer. When the moment came and Natsu was actually here, turns out she was the scaredy cat that ran away. She could see it now, in the barest lean of his posture, the slight gravel to his voice. Natsu Dragneel was hurting, and hurting bad.
It was immature and selfish of her to never allow them to talk. With a deep breath, she readied herself to be hurt. Not a bracing, trying to fight feeling emotion, but a quiet acceptance and a prayer to come out the other side stronger than before.
"I think we need to talk," she said simply, dropping to the ground beside him.
"No, you're right, you usually are. I was an idiot thinking things could ever be the same. Of course you moved on, you had an entire year. It isn't fair to ask you to be the same Lucy from before. I'm not entirely the same Natsu, so…yeah."
"Why didn't you take me with you?" her small voice let slip. So that's where her emotions needed to go, because she had been planning on some nice therapist type questions first, but NOPE. Thanks mouth.
Natsu seemed startled by her question, but neither of them let their eyes stray from the brook.
"I wasn't sure I was strong enough to protect you," Natsu admitted. "I wasn't strong enough to protect anyone. I couldn't stop Erza from being tortured, or Igneel. I owe Gajeel a song because I couldn't take out a single demon on my own. You took out more demons than me, and in order for me to get to a place where I could be strong enough, I would have to put myself in circumstances just as difficult, if not worse, than Tartarus, you were so brave, I didn't want to make you go through anything hard ever again. If I lost you too…" His throat got thick and he couldn't continue.
"You are an idiot," Lucy said, resisting the urge to cry, "you didn't want to lose me, so you pushed me away first. You are an idiot."
"Yeah, I'm starting to get that." They sat in silence, listening to water.
"I thought it was because you thought I was too weak to handle what your training was, because you didn't trust me or rely on me. I thought you had lied about us being partners and were only my friend to eat my food. I thought a lot of crazy things.
I even had a couple of Yukino moments where I thought I was cursed to never be happy with a relationship. That some almighty God had decreed that all my relationships needed to end with letters that left me sobbing. Mom left me a letter you know, that's why I wrote letters back to her. All I had left of Father was a letter. All I had left of you was a letter."
"I'm sorry," Natsu said. There was nothing else he could say at this point.
"After memorizing your letter, I tossed it in the river outside my house. I thought about burning it, but that was too close to you." She hadn't told anyone about that, but Lucy wasn't sure what she was doing anymore. Hurting Natsu like she had planned so many times felt stupid and hollow, but something still needed to be said.
"You know what a river like this used to mean to me?" she asked, trying to figure out how to bring up the topic.
"I don't know, probably some deep metaphor about change."
"It used to mean safety actually," Lucy said, taking off her sandals and dipping a toe in the water. "By the time I was seven I could hold my breath for over two minutes and swim ten laps without getting winded, at ten I could swim miles and could keep my head above water in the middle of a storm. When I was thirteen, one of my closest to being successful escape attempts involved me swimming away one of the days we were at the beach for a business social, giant dress and all, and I made it twenty miles away before I was caught. I bet you can tell me how I made it that far." Natsu had no idea where this was going, but Lucy was trying to tell him something, so he clung to her every word.
"One grumpy mermaid push you that far?" He asked, trying for a joke. Lucy didn't smile, in fact, she frowned even more.
"Yeah, my grumpy mermaid. She taught me how to swim, she made sure I was good, and I tried really hard in order to impress her. It was rough whenever she washed me away, but she always stopped short of drowning me. She would blast me for the littlest of things: I wanted to have a tea party with her one time and flooded my bedroom. One day I needed to ask someone about how to get this cute kid down the street how to like me, and I turned to the one person I knew had a boyfriend. She sent a tidal wave so strong I ended up face first in the kid's front yard." Lucy had that indecipherable look on her face again, it was sad, and happy, and confused, and he didn't know what to do.
A year ago he would have put an arm around her, now he helpless.
"But that wasn't all, Aquarius taught me how to use a whip, said it was the one weapon as fluid and manageable as water, and it would get me out of anything if I knew how to use it right, she wasn't going to save me, I needed to grow up and save myself. Every year on the anniversary of Mom's death, at some point in the day, I would summon Aquarius and beg her to tell me a story about my mom. She would refuse, give me tough love, tell me to grow up and make my own stories, but each year, after she swept me away, she would tell me one story. Called it honoring Layla." Lucy took a deep breath and seemed to be bracing herself.
"Aquarius raised me, almost as much as my own mother, and I loved her. You know what it took to take down 'my demon' as you called him? I had to break all my contracts with Aquarius and her key." Natsu glanced at her hand and let his mouth drop open. Sitting in her palm, amongst all her other keys, was one shorter than the others, the prongs broken, it was tarnished, and he could make out two cracks running over the duel waves that made up the sign of Aquarius.
"Aquarius will never visit the mortal realm again, it had to be Aquarius because it would require the biggest sacrifice from me, and only through sacrifice can we hope to gain. Law of equivalent exchange, I read about it once in a book. I already had three spirits out when Aquarius asked me to break her key, I was exhausted, pushed past what I thought I was capable of, and Aquarius demanded more. She knew I needed to save Fairy Tail, that I would never be happy without my guild, that only my power could do it.
I told her how important she was to me, how much I loved her even though she hated me. She called me a hopeless, whiny, graceless brat who relied far too much on others. Said she always hated me, that I was a disappointment and that I would never come close to being like my mother. She demanded that I break her key and said she was looking forward to never having to see my face again. There were tears in her eyes as I shouted the summoning spell for the celestial king." Lucy went silent then, and Natsu tried to catch up, Aquarius was gone forever? He doubted Aquarius felt as broken up about the separation as Lucy did, but he wasn't going to tell her that. All of this Lucy suffered while he was sucked into a castle.
"What happened next?" Natsu asked, scared, but needing to know.
"It worked." she laughed humorlessly, "I summoned 'Stache face, as a parting gift Aquarius let me use a portion of her power and I killed Jakal with it. The King faced off with Marde Greer, and broke Algeria, freeing all of Fairy Tail. You showed up then, and I collapsed by the side of the fight. You were right, I did save all your asses. It took a while, but I became okay with the sacrifice, and focused on my friends. If I had to sacrifice Aquarius for them, it was not going to be in vain, and I would grow into the person Aquarius always wanted me to be, and the others could tell her all about it. I had Fairy Tail, and I had you, we would survive like a guild, as always."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Natsu asked, "Did you tell anyone?"
"I didn't want anyone to feel guilty, it was my choice and my burden; maybe I didn't want pity, maybe losing Aquarius seemed to pale in comparison to you losing Igneel, or losing the other dragons. Compared to Gray facing his father or Erza being tortured and losing her senses, I didn't want to add my pain to yours. How was I supposed to say it? I know you guys are going through really tough things, but I lost someone who was glad to be rid of me and can I please have a hug?"
"Yes! No, I mean, anything would have been better than finding out you carried this by yourself."
"Your turn," Lucy said calmly, "would it have changed you decision at all?"
"Of course it would have," Natsu said, but they both heard the tremor of doubt.
"No, I disagree, it would have been more reason to get stronger, so you could protect me in the future. You wouldn't have been able to help me through something like that while still mourning Igneel. It would have been harder to leave, but you still would have left. It kills me inside to know there was nothing I could have possibly done to make you stay. Now a stream like this means guilt and pain."
"I'm sorry for your loss," Natsu murmured automatically, no defense coming to mind. He lost all of his Lucy reading powers, but Lucy could still read him like an open book.
"I chased you down," Lucy added, "after I got your note, I ran to your house, found you not there, and kept running. Loke saved me, after I got lost and twisted my ankle. You want to know the real icing on the cake? The next day I was a mess, but I dragged my butt to the guild hall to help reconstruction, doing my best to push you to the back of my mind where I put memories of Aquarius. I knew that keeping busy with the guild was my only hope of making it through this mess. Mira saw me working and told me that Fairy Tail had been disbanded.
That guild I had been depending on to pull me through my loss of Aquarius? The guild I sacrificed so much to save? Gone anyway. Scattered to the winds, and I was going to be left alone. I lost it, I started shouting at Mira about how could Fairy Tail end? Families didn't end and Fairy Tail was family. We never listened to Makarov anyway, and what about all those stupid heiresses, running away from home with nowhere to go, those kids who lost their parents? What were they supposed to do, 'sorry, the battle was too tough?' so I worked alone. I worked alone for a month, only my spirits beside me, and only as long as I could support them. There was no one there and I cried myself to sleep every night."
Lucy was lost in sad memories, and Natsu didn't know what to do. So he sat there with her and relieved his own memories of their year apart, he would be lying if he claimed to never cried himself to sleep by himself. Igneel was gone after all, all his work, all his hope, Igneel had been inside him and then he died. Logically he was going to die a few minutes after anyway, fade with the rest of the dragons, but it wasn't the same, it wasn't peaceful. It was violent and Aconologia's fault. Lucy let out a shuddering breath, and used her unmarked hand to wipe away her tears. They had suffered so much, both of them, it wasn't fair.
Lucy looked at him for the first time since sitting down when he let out a shuddering breath of his own.
"Look at the pair of us, Fairy Tail is one messed up guild if it's strongest members are always so broken and hurt. I mean, what even are we?" Natsu started laughing then, some sobs thrown in for good measure. Finally Lucy looked confused, raising one hand swipe gently at his face, only to show him a tear from his own eye.
"Natsu?" she questioned gently as he started to sob more than laugh.
"I wanted to protect you, make sure nothing bad would ever hurt you again. I only ended up hurting you more. And look at you, you went through so much and put your energy towards helping people, opening Fairy Tail to everyone and giving them a place to come home to, where there would be no questions, only people who cared and teased like a family. You got Fairy Tail to win the Games, you became an S-class wizard, you mastered new games of politics and wrote a novel while leaning on your friends and giving support. I spent every day training to become stronger pushing myself, I found new powers, and to be honest, I could probably level Clover in under five minutes. That barrier Kai had bought? I could have destroyed it using one finger, but I didn't want to scare you, and I wanted to see what you had learned.
For all that strength, it means nothing when I think about Igneel. I want to curl up and die, I feel like that little kid that doesn't know where to go, waiting for someone to tell I'm where his father was. I can melt stone, but I couldn't protect you. I hurt you, and I am nowhere near as strong as you." Natsu closed his eyes and tried to gain control of himself. That was enough, he would deal with this on his own. Of course, that's what got him into this mess in the first place.
A hand touched his shoulder then, Lucy's slender one, it somehow managed to feel warm despite his above average body heat. He looked at her, knowing his eyes were bloodshot, feeling embarrassed about his breakdown, but unwilling to ignore someone so precious to him, a year was long enough to ignore her.
Her arms went around him then, and they finally had their reunion hug. He had waited 368 days for this, he felt Lucy shuddering in his arms, she was crying now. Hs arms supported her weight as she buried her face in his scarf; he didn't know how long they sat there, long after Lucy's tears subsided, just holding each other, letting themselves for this single moment find comfort and strength in the other that had been absent for so long.
"I should have stayed with the guild. When things are kept in the guild, they are safer and make people stronger." Lucy pulled back then, much to Natsu's dismay, but her eyes were shining in a good way.
"Say that again."
"I should have stayed with the guild?" Natsu asked.
"No, the other thing," Lucy insisted.
"When things are kept in the guild they are safe?"
"Yes! That's the counter proposal! Anyone who objects clearly cares only about standings and I can move that their votes be called selfish and bad for society. It's a dick move, but I can do it. Thank you Natsu!" Lucy squeezed him one more time before turning to put her shoes back on and running back the way they had come. She stopped herself for a second and threw him some parting words.
"By the way, nothing happened between me and Sting. He isn't my boyfriend. I don't have one, there was just no room on the bed," before continuing to run. Natsu felt a goofy grin creep up his face, and let his attention fall back to the stream for a second, only giving it his full attention when he saw the fluttering of a wing and a tail. He could have sworn he saw a fairy just then, something only his newly trained senses could catch.
He let the mystery go for now, and took it as an omen.
Fairy Tail would turn out alright. Him and Lucy would turn out alright. They always did.
"May I speak?" Lucy asked the moderator. He sighed, and Lucy took that as a yes.
"The current proposal obviously isn't working, I would like to create a counter offer to the Magic Council. We as guilds will keep records of the activity of our members, but while they reside in a legal guild the Council has no access to those records. When a mage goes freelance and leaves a guild, we will then turn the records over for scrutiny. If the mage switches guilds, the records transfer to the new guild, but not to the Magic Council. That way they can keep track of rogue mages, but it shows trust in the guilds as they are now."
"All in favor of Guild Master Lucy's counter proposal?" the council representative said, done with everything. They won two-thirds and the motion was passed.
"Nice save there Lu," Sting cheered, "now we can leave and Minerva won't roast me." They partied then for another hour, as was tradition for guild masters to do.
Lucy returned late that night, slightly tipsy, but smart enough to down water to reduce her hangover the next morning. She saw both Natsu and Kia curled up on the bed, and she thought about going to Sting's again, but was really tired. Instead she got Natsu's blanket and set up on the floor like she had done so many times before in her own apartment. She wasn't ready to give Natsu his spot back in her life, but she was ready to let him try. Maybe she would risk being hurt again, maybe she didn't have to cut him out of her life to stay sane.
Maybe things could be just as good, if not better than before.
Only one way to find out.
A/N: There you have it, I hope this fixed a lot of the problems you guys had with this story. I have a bonus chapter full of scenes from the year Lucy has been guild master that I will probably post (Lucy discovering her star dress, Lucy's S class trial and the Grand magic games, expect a big chapter). Maybe I will continue it after that, give Gray an alternate line, but really this story is about Lucy healing from being abandoned. So that really depends on my muse. Thank you so much for making me clean up this sorry story, you guys knew I was capable of better material, so thanks for that.