I'm not dead, really! This Management position has just been a lot more hassle than I anticipated and at the same time my husband had to quit his job before it killed him (he lost 40 lbs in a month and looked very sickly); so he has been home all the time working on projects, raising chickens for sale and very demanding of my attention when I am here. Here is a short one for you all to keep you with me, hope you like it. I wish I owned something like this, but unfortunately I only get to play on Fanfiction.
The sound of a pencil scratching paper was broken by a mournful sob; followed by a tear drop staining a page full of writing. Followed by the sound of a pencil dropping to a desk and rolling to the edge of the desk and clattering to the floor. The pencil now silent and at rest; all that could be heard was the heavy, hiccuped breathing of someone trying very hard not to cry. Not just normal crying, but a lament to the heavens for a pain that was too great to bear; the pain of heartbreak and loss.
Lucy sat staring at the story she had written. She couldn't understand what had possessed her to write THAT kind of story about her friends as if everything was fine. As if Fairy Tail was still there, her friends hadn't wandered off to places unknown to train or do who knows what, as if Natsu and Happy were going to come barging into her apartment at any minute for a free meal and sleep on her bed and as if she even HAD that apartment for them to intrude. Anger set in and Lucy swiped the pages she had written about her fellow Fairy Tail members, and their possible love affairs, to the floor. She laid her head upon her desk and bawled until there were no more tears produced. Sadly this seemed to be how everyday ended for poor Lucy since they had left her, since HE had left her.
It's funny how you never really know how much something means to you until it is gone. The past few months had given Lucy plenty of time to reflect her past and how she would wish for her future to unfold. As was apparent by the story she had been writing for the last week. She loved that idiot, Natsu, with all of her heart and couldn't see herself in the future without him beside her through thick and thin. Even if he never felt the same about her, just being near him would be enough. Then there was Happy. He was like the little brother she never had, and although he could be quite agitating, she loved him like family and also could not see her future without him in it.
It had been months now with no word, HE didn't even know that the Guild had been disbanded. Everyone had seemed to go off in groups to try and get stronger and Master had disappeared. Some of the older members, like Macao and Wakaba, still lived there in town but all they did was drink and talk like old people about the "better days".
Lucy didn't know where the rest of team Natsu had gone, but kept a record of all of her former family's sightings around Earthland. Juvia had gone after Gray to confess her "crime" of releasing his father from the necromancer by killing said demon. Lucy was sure she knew Gray well enough that he would actually be grateful to Juvia for saving his father and letting him cross over. Perhaps this would be the push he finally needed to admit his feelings for the water mage, but rumors of a town in which it rained all the time had started floating around and Lucy was a bit concerned for the pair. Erza seemed to flit around like a ghost. Lucy had heard rumors that Jellal and his ever growing group of vigilantes had been in town, so Erza's vanishing act must have had to do with him.
Levy had actually gone off with Gajeel and Pantherlily to document the dragon slayers training. She had been hoping to train a little herself; so of course, Jet and Droy had followed under the pretense of keeping her safe from the big bad dragon slayer. Something must have happened between Levy and Gajeel during the fight with Tartaros, because they had seemed much closer than normal before they all left town.
Laxus and his "Thundergod tribe" had gone off together; and so had the Strauss siblings who were using Mira's modeling career to fund their training trip. Lucy would see her in magazines from time to time and could see the difference in her eyes through the pictures, a determination and fire like she had never witnessed. Wendy and Carla had left to visit Chelia Blendy and ended up staying with Lamia Scale, even becoming a member of their guild.
Lucy picked her head up from her desk and looked around her apartment. She would be leaving in a few days time to move to Crocus and work for Sorcerer's Weekly. She hadn't been able to afford to stay at her apartment, now that the Guild had disbanded and her team had left her. She wasn't confident enough to take a high paying job on her own, and the landlady had also raised the rent higher to afford all the repairs to the building. Lucy could understand that, but she'd had a hard enough time paying before when she could work with the team. Now would have been near impossible. Hence why there would be no apartment for Natsu and Happy to come back to.
She thought this would be the perfect time to continue to write her novel. Unfortunately all she could think about was him, the rest of Fairy Tail, and how lonely she was without them. So the idea of writing about them and the relationships they should have had kept bugging her until she had written it all down. Research books were stacked all around the desk and her bed. She figured she now knew more about the dragons and hopefully their slayer counterparts than anyone and embellished the information she found in her story. She really did hope some of it was true, because that would mean that her premise about 'being partners' was true and that Natsu reciprocated her feelings, even if he was as blind to it as she had been until now. Sadly though, she had gotten the idea about the mating marks from a reference made about demons and how they liked to bite the objects of desire as a mark of possession.
Lucy's keys glowed and in a burst of light Loke appeared beside her. Her spirits had been the only thing holding her together lately. "Lucy," Loke started leaning over to look at her face and touching her shoulder, "you can't keep this up. Sitting here day after day is only making you more depressed!" Lucy reached up to clasp over his hand, "I know, Loke. I still have to get Virgo to help me pack but it's just so hard to find any motivation without him here. Everyone is gone, Fairy Tail no longer exists, and even I will be leaving so I can support myself. How could everything have turned out this way? How could he just leave me behind and not have the balls to tell me to my face?!" At the mention of her name, said spirit appeared begging, "Punishment, princess?" "Not now, Virgo." Loke said to his fellow spirit angrily while Lucy just let out a sad sigh.
Lucy looked up at Loke and asked, lightly,"How is Aquarius doing?" "She is fine, Lucy, and part of the reason I am here now," Loke began," Virgo, please check over the apartment and start packing Lucy's things. When you are done take them to the spirit world and we can deliver them to Lucy when she gets a place in Crocus." Virgo bowed to the lion spirit and went about her assigned task. Loke took Lucy's hand and had her stand up, saying "Right now you need to come with me." "Where are we going?" Lucy asked. "You've been summoned by the Spirit King upon Aquarius' request. We are taking you to the spirit world to cheer you up and make plans for your future, Lucy. After you get settled in Crocus, we are all going to help you train to get stronger too." Loke grabbed Lucy's key ring with Aquarius' broken key back on it and handed them to Lucy. He then opened his gate and they both stepped through to the spirit world. Virgo followed them a few minutes later with the bulk of Lucy's things, planning to return with Lucy to help finish packing and clean up.
When the apartment was still and quiet, a little blue paw opened Lucy's window. The little winged Exceed flew into Lucy's apartment taking in the sight of most of her belongings being gone. He did happen to spy her writing desk and the papers that were now put neatly back in order by Virgo on its surface. Curiosity got the best of this cat and he couldn't help but fly over and start to read what Lucy would never allow either he or Natsu to touch. A few hours passed with him reading Lucy's racy rough draft, and even though he had a bloody nose, Happy didn't fail to notice the teardrops on all of the pages that contained Natsu. He put the pages back in order and made sure not to leave any evidence he had been there. Then with an evil little smirk and a twinkle in his eyes, he left to report back to Natsu. Happy started making plans in his head as he flew back to where Natsu was training. One thing was for sure; Happy was darned certain he wasn't telling Natsu about the contents of her novel, at least not yet…
So was the twist lame? How about evil little Happy? Heading into Natsu's mind for the next one, so just hang in there. I am trying to write around the real happenings in the manga and a young man alone for a year in the woods could get really interesting...
