Hi! I will try to update more often, but for now, I hope you'll enjoy this new chapter. Now I know, the past chapters have been gloomy, but I promise the fluff as yet to come! Probably in the next chapter! Plus, Juvia and Cana will come back again in the future chapters… On that I promise! Anyway, thanks again! Your amazing reviews make my day! Already more than forty followers for that story! More than I expected! I am truly grateful for that! So thanks again and enjoy!
Natsu stared blankly at his computer screen.
Only one person had decided to subscribe to his, he was ashamed to admit, pitiful channel. His video had barely thirty views…
His plan wouldn't work with only one subscriber… Which wasn't even a real one since Gray was kind of obligated to subscribe to "support" him.
Sighing deeply, he decided to look out the most popular videos on his feed. It all turned around stupidity such as people drinking bleach to others pretending to drill themselves in the head to get more views.
As he scrolled and scrolled getting exasperated the more he saw what people were up to, to get known, he shut down his computer.
Slipping into his bed, he closed his eyes, but couldn't manage to find sleep.
What will I do?
And then it came.
That memory of a little blonde girl accompanied by her mother.
-X-
Natsu was barely a toddler. He remembered each and every detail of the little girl as she giggled and ran in the alleys looking with wide brown orbs at the diverse machines each placed in perfect lines. She had a beautiful smile plastered across her face and puffy pink cheeks that bore fiercely dimples.
He had felt at that moment the heat rising to his cheeks, but had gazed to the ground as his father was glancing his way, a wicked grin showing pointy fangs, just like his.
His little heart had started beating hard and fast in a way that made him fear he might burst.
What was that feeling?
Being just a kid, he hadn't realized back then that it surely was love he felt toward the girl, but then again, the moment had gone so quickly even now he doubted the reality of these emotions.
But back then, he had started to cry out of fear, the warmth creeping up to his whole face making it feel like a wildfire.
Igneel had scooped him up in his arms and asked what was wrong with his little boy. Noticing the flushed face of the boy and the little girl who had stopped running glancing their way, he had understood.
Understood as if he had already lived it before.
As if he were a part of him.
Igneel had murmured reassuring words in his ears promising there was nothing wrong with such a feeling. Telling him the beauty of it.
And Natsu had instantly stopped to cry. His permanent grin had reach back to his face stretching wide as he was dropped back to the floor.
He remembered Igneel looking at the little girl as if in recognition and stalking away to a random machine.
Natsu had obviously followed him. Slowly approaching he had looked at the screen, a gigantic insect taking most of it. Instead of screaming like any other kid would have done, he felt interest growing inside of him.
A desire to play.
His father left him the place. Understanding after many tries how the multiple buttons worked, he started enjoying more and more the virtual world as if transported in a place where he was the hero, the one defeating the mean guy.
Absorbed in the play, his father had slowly reached a nearby bench giving his kid some space as the small blondie was coming closer, interested in the way he pressed the buttons.
He hadn't noticed her at first, but he would always remember how he jumped when a small voice had emerged close behind him.
Natsu had turned around looking at the flustered little girl from earlier, that same feeling roaming inside of him. Though this time, he knew it wasn't dangerous and so he risked a word in her direction, not sure he had caught what she had just said.
"Do you want to play?" he had asked looking straight in her eyes.
She had simply nodded and taken his place at the controllers.
After a few games, her face was all red, contorted with rage as she kept on losing and losing barely making any damages to the monstrous centipede.
Natsu noticing how hard she had struggled, had offered his help, which she had gladly accepted.
He had intertwined fingers with her pressing himself behind her. As the horrendous centipede appeared in the screen, he directed her hands to the right spot.
It probably had been the most romantic thing he had done in his entire life, but yet, his childish innocence had proven to make him act this way.
After a few minutes, they had reached such a high score their avatar stood in third place beside an enigmatic Guigui.
Not putting too much thought in it, Natsu felt pride rise in his chest as the word Igneel, his father's name, stood on the podium. The little girl probably hadn't bothered changing the username after he had left her to play.
He flashed a toothy grin at his partner who smiled back clearly happy with the progress she felt she had made.
"Want to try something else?" he had inquired, not so shy anymore.
"Yeah sure!" she had answered with glee.
He had taken her hand and led her to yet another game he loved to play, Pac Man.
She had difficulty understanding the concept of the game at first, but rapidly caught on, as they used the same method and yet again made it to the podium.
Giving each other a high five, they were already heading to yet another game when a woman barged behind them.
"There is my little princess!" The woman exclaimed with a particular expression on her face.
Even now, he couldn't quite discerned what it consisted in, but at the moment he had felt like it was some sort of hope… But why, that he didn't know.
"I am afraid you'll have to leave your little friend for the rest of the day… We have to head back home before papa comes back." She had added, a thin line appearing at the corner of her mouth twisting it downward.
Why was she looking sad at that mention?
"Okay mama! I guess I will see you soon then!" she had told him and pulled him in a tight hug.
She smelled of vanilla and another sent he couldn't decipher. What he could say though was that he definitely adored them both.
As she had started to pull away, he said louder than he would have wanted: Wait!
"What is it?" she had asked startled.
"What's your name?"
By the look on her face she looked like she felt hesitant, but that shadow passed over her face quickly replaced by that bright smile and light somehow emanating from her.
What was it again?
He couldn't remember what she had answered him and yet, he felt he had it on the tip if his tongue.
Focusing back on the memory, angered at himself for forgetting such an important detail, he remembered her leaving.
But, mostly the feeling of longing.
The feeling of wanting.
Wanting to see her again.
Her friend.
She eventually came back to the arcade and as the years flew by they indeed became close friends.
The only thing different was probably the fact that she was practically able to beat him at every game they compete against. It didn't anger him somehow… But he bet the reason behind it was because it was her and nobody else. He couldn't fight the smile spreading to his lips as she defeated him yet again. The way she twirled around smiling genuinely, her ponytail swaying with her with such grace it took him by surprise every time…
He knew deep down that what he felt when he lay eyes upon her was more than simple friendship.
Even though it had only been three years since they'd been friends, it felt like all along he had known her… And somehow, he was questioning himself and trying to put words on his emotions.
The only thing that could come up to his mind was love, because what his father had told him when he had first met her matched with his symptoms.
Could he be in love with a friend?
In the head of an eight years old boy, that didn't made sense, and so, he decided not to focus too much on the twinge of pain he felt whenever another guy came by talking to her.
She certainly was popular, but somehow, she wasn't mean like the usual jocks…
She was special.
And he realized too late that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.
Too late.
He remembered that day…
Oh how he wished he had forgotten it.
Erased it from his memory.
But then, her departure wouldn't make sense.
That day, he waited at the centipede machine. The clock indicated three in the afternoon.
By now, he had thought, she should have been there. They always met at one at the centipede machine, competing at this particular game, the one that had brought them together…
And yet, it had been two hours since he'd search for her throughout the whole arcade, persuaded she was probably hiding, even though he knew deep down that it didn't made sense.
The hours passed, the night came…
And she never came.
His father pull him out of the arcade. That night, somehow, he had a feeling something went wrong. He felt it in his chest, which at the moment was aching, as if trying to cope with the loss of something important…
Pushing these feelings away as he got anxious thinking something bad had happened to her, he went straight to bed that night, not hungry and unable to sleep.
The next day, he went to the arcade.
But then again, she didn't come.
Nor did she the other day.
Or the one after that.
The nervousness growing inside of him at each passing day, he broke in front of his dad, not able to endure the silence and disappearance of his dearest friend.
By the look his father gave him, his face grim and sad, he knew that he somehow had information concerning the matter…
"Papa, please tell me! Tell me where is my best friend! Is she okay?" he asked through choked sobs.
The father's constricted face slowly turned downward and him too, drop a tear or two.
"She lost her mom" was all he said.
That night, the television on, he heard the whole story. The one that broke his heart for good.
They said a couple was arguing in the car about some important matter. The man, judging by some tests, was drunk and driving the car that led to the accident. He survived with minor injuries, but not the woman. The analysis of the scene demonstrated that the woman, probably in an attempt of reaching safety, had released her seat belt. Therefore, seconds later when they collided with a wall, the woman had been ejected through the front window. Some say, that judging by the injuries, she hadn't suffered long. They had pixelated her brain standing on the windshield and the broken corpse on the floor. It was described as unrecognizable. Therefore, no names were mentioned.
Even through the pixels, Natsu could recognize the blonde curls.
The same color as… what was her goddamn name?!
They eventually discovered the identity of the dead woman, but Natsu didn't care anymore.
He knew who that was.
That tight line at the mention of the father.
The monster.
He remembered hoping the guy would go to jail for such a crime.
How twisted life can be?
He did go to court… But somehow manage to get out as if nothing had ever happened…
The man, the beast, was rumored to be rich…
Could money erase the death of his own wife?
Could it forgive the cruellest murder a man could perpetrate?
Put it into oblivion as he had with her name?
It seemed so.
After all these years…
How was she doing now?
Did she finally get back to playing video games?
To that, he could answer, since he hadn't seen the girl around…
Wait…
Gildarts did say there was a blonde chick…
A newbie, since he didn't know her…
The girl that had beaten his score…
The avatar…
Bloomsbury
That was the name! The name she had told her when they had first met.
The name he thought was so unconventional…
Could it be…
Could it be that she was back?
His friend…
Or should he say the girl he loved.
No way…
-X-
Igneel… As in Natsu's avatar…
Of course he would be the king…
After all the years they played… Well he continued after she left…
Lucy sighed.
Yes, she did know Natsu before.
Yes, he was her friend.
Her best friend.
The guy she loved as a kid.
But, things weren't the same anymore. Since the death of her mother, the memories pained her too much. The video games associated automatically to her mother and the images came back to her mind, made her cry endlessly. She used to play with her before she had met Natsu. It had used to be her favorite moments of the day.
Moments when her dad wasn't around to screw everything up.
To make her life hell.
And yet, as she started to gain for the first time in a while a bit of happiness, this disaster had to come.
And he was responsible for it.
As he always was.
She hadn't forgiven her dad for the death of her mother, but still, she was young, barely eight.
Therefore, gifts could easily satisfy her. Keep the sorrow away, at least for a while.
Which meant an hour or two.
At least, that's what her father tought.
She wanted to go back to Natsu. To get in his arms and intertwined fingers. To feel his incredible warmth as he would hug her and dry her tears.
But she couldn't.
His father kept her locked in her bedroom.
With tons and tons of toys.
But none could compare to her friend.
To her mom.
Jude was a monster and one of the worst. He was taking everything away from her.
Except objects, because those were things he could have control over.
She still felt the hole left in her chest, getting larger and larger as it gaped at her showing her all the people she loved and cared about.
What a loss.
And yet, it was too late to go back.
Arrange things.
She had heard the issue of the argument that had caused the accident, since they'd had it already so many times before.
It was him.
Natsu.
Her father didn't like him.
Because he made his princess boyish.
Because he taught her violence.
Bullshit.
Jude had drinking problems due to a problematic childhood. Always drinking away the nightmares of his past, he got revenge on the feeble. His wife and daughter. He would get so drunk he wouldn't be able to distinguish the physical traits differencing his own mother and his wife.
And he would hit.
And hit.
Until the blood poured.
Until the bruises accumulated.
Until the bones cracked.
Until the screams of pain brought him back to the present.
To the horrendous things he had done.
But he never felt guilt.
No.
Everything happened for a reason he would say.
He would tell her that after causing the death of her mother.
Of the only family, she had.
And yet, she couldn't get revenge on him.
Never.
-X-
Natsu woke up that morning and ran to the arcade. Gildarts sleeping on the counter, still not accustomed to his early shifts, snored heavily as Natsu enter the building, opening the door wide.
"Guigui… GUIGUI!" Natsu said, tickling the chin of the old fart.
"Hmm, yes beautiful ladies I can escort you all to your bedrooms…" he said drooling.
"You disgust me" Natsu answered and slapped him across the face.
His method did seem brutal, but he was accustomed with Gildarts. He needed to be rough or else the man wouldn't wake up and fulfill the urgent task he had for him.
The man finally woke up, a grin appearing at the corner of his lips as he recognized his favorite customer and friend.
"What can I do to help you? It better be urgent or else I'm going to slap you hard for waking me up!" He said a threat in his voice.
Natsu winced. Even though the guy was old, he still was fairly strong. And by strong he meant, supernaturally strong.
"Look, I need you to do a bit of stalking for me alright?"
"HUH? What for?"
"I want you to tell me when that blondie comes! Alright?" Natsu said, starting to get pissed as he noticed how Gildarts made fun of him.
"But I already know when she comes…" Gildarts whispered and winked in a perverted way.
"Then tell me!" Natsu pressed, failing at covering his excitement.
"You are not a lucky lad, she comes here when you are at work…"
"Then I'll just leave her a note…" he whispered to himself as he searched his schoolbag for paper and pens.
He scribbled quickly a few words on a sheet of paper which he stuck on the centipede machine. And prayed nobody else would read it, but the girl it was destined to.
"If I may ask, why is it that you are suddenly so interested in a girl?" Gildarts drawled wiggling his eyebrows as Natsu was reaching the front door, not wanting to arrive late.
"She used to be my best friend… And my first love alright?"
"What? I have been working here since a decade and I have never heard or seen such a friend of yours!" Gildarts barked.
"Yeah, she left before you started working here. I bet she just decided to come back here. But I don't know why."
"Hold up, you were like eight when I started working here… Weren't you a bit too young to fall in love?" the man questioned.
"Look, all I know is that this girl was very special to me. I have never felt like this towards anybody else. Alright? She… She's just perfect for me. And I wish I could see her again. See if she remembers me." Natsu said and blushed.
Blushed.
Natsu never did that.
Never in a lifetime.
This matter was serious.
"And what happens if she doesn't answer your notes or even remember you?" Gildarts inquired.
"I'll make her remember me." He said and grinned, trying to be positive.
And if that didn't work, he thought, he still had that darn channel of his…
So basically, his plan stayed the same, except for the ending.
At first, he had decided to give YouTube another try, by playing arcade games online. So that he could practice even at home and get a chance to beat the mysterious challenger. And well, doing it on the web could get him to have advice by various gamers…
But now it was different. He still wanted that YouTube channel to work, but he didn't want to make it grow alone.
He wanted to make it a gaming channel with is one and only partner.
Forever and always.
Bloomsbury.
