Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.

Here ya go, folks-the longest chapter to date. Sorry it's late again, but I hope you still enjoy it.

Check out my other story if you're interested! And now, onto the latest installment of Viscernal's A Diary's Secret!

Fairy Tail—A Diary's Secret

Chapter 10

The sound of a ticking clock was the only sound within the Strauss household. Night had fallen and Lisanna and Elfman were sound asleep in the dark home. The only one still awake was Mira who was sitting quietly at the kitchen table. The kitchen light glowed dimly above her, casting shadows across the wooden table top. In her hand was a photograph; the very same photograph that she had taken a few hours ago with Natsu at the festival. She couldn't tear her eyes away from it, especially Natsu's nervous smile. She didn't fully understand why he was so nervous—after all, this was Natsu—but she loved seeing that side of him. It was unbearably adorable.

She sighed as her gaze saddened. "Why?" she whispered. "Why did it have to be him?" She placed the photo on the table and rested her head beside it. "Why did I have to fall in love with him of all people? It only makes things more difficult."

She closed her eyes. 'I can't love him, though. I can't,' she thought. 'Lisanna likes him. She may even love him. It sure sounds like it. Those two are damn inseparable. No matter how hard I try, can I really expect to make up for all of that time she spent with him?'

She sighed as she stood up. She was still exhausted from her fight with Erza and thinking about Natsu left her emotionally and mentally drained as well. She took the photograph off of the table and began walking upstairs. As she climbed, she realized what had to be done. 'I may love him, but I love Lisanna more. I want her to be happy and I'm sure she'll be happy with Natsu. Hell, I'm sure Natsu would be happier with her than me anyway. So for Lisanna's sake, for the happiness of my beloved sister, I won't love him.'

"It's too damn early for this," Mira groaned as she trudged down the street.

Lisanna sweatdropped. "Big sister…it's almost three o'clock in the afternoon."

"Yeah? What of it?" Mira grumbled.

"Why are you so down, Mira?" Elfman asked. "Did you not sleep well?"

"I slept fine," she replied. That was a complete lie. Not only did she stay up late staring at the photograph of her and Natsu, but once she actually went up to bed she couldn't bring herself to fall asleep. She just tossed and turned all night long as her mind wandered to the pink haired, dense, idiot Dragon Slayer with a smile that melted her heart. She probably didn't get any actual rest until the sun had already come up. She gave Elfman a sideways glance. "I'm more curious as to why you two didn't just go to the guild without me."

"It's more fun to walk together, all three of us," Lisanna said gleefully. "Don't you agree?"

Mira sighed. "Yeah, I guess you're right." As the three walked, Lisanna and Elfman began making small talk while Mira thought things over with her exhausted brain. 'I need to get my mind off of all of this. Off of Natsu, of my feelings for him, everything. I just need to get away.'

"Hey Mira, why don't we take a small job when we get to the guild?" Lisanna offered. "It might wear you out a bit and then you'll fall asleep in no time tonight."

Mira smiled. 'Fatigue has nothing to do with my inability to sleep, but it's so typical of Lisanna to be this worried over something so trivial.' She nodded. "Alright, we'll take a look and see what seems good."

"Okay!" Lisanna cheered.

The three arrived at the guild hall and immediately walked right up to the mission board. The three began scanning the requests.

"How about this one?" Lisanna offered as she took a request off of the board and handed it to Mira.

Mira took it and read it over. 'A mission to escort a trade wagon from Onibus to Clover Town. How lame is that? I'll be so bored out of my mind that I won't be able to clear my head at all.' She shook her head and handed the request back. "Pass. What else is there?"

Lisanna looked at the request. "Really? I thought this one was pretty good."

"It would be like watching paint dry," Mira said.

"Oh! How about this one, big sis?" Elfman asked as he pointed to a different request on the board.

Mira read it over. 'A request to help capture a bunch of thugs in Hargeon that are causing trouble for merchants. What, do I look like a rookie? These "thugs" will pose no challenge whatsoever. I could read a freaking book while fighting them and I'd still win hands down.' She shook her head. "Nope. No good."

Elfman huffed. "You're pretty picky today, Mira."

"Look, I just want to challenge myself a bit and get a workout," Mira retorted while crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at Elfman. "Is that so wrong?"

Elfman took a step back and held up his hands defensively. "N…Not at all!"

Mira sighed and closed her eyes. 'I need to let some of this pent up frustration out. I need a job that will allow me to let loose. But nothing on the board looks good.' She turned around and looked towards the second level; the level where only S-Class wizards were allowed to go. She smiled. 'Perfect!' She looked over her shoulder at her siblings. "How about an S-Class job?"

"What?" Lisanna asked incredulously. "Mira, you must be joking. Besides, those aren't quick jobs."

"You would really let us tag along?" Elfman asked excitedly, completely ignoring Lisanna's concerns. He had been dying to help his big sister out on a job so that he could really show off how much stronger he'd gotten.

"Yup. I'll go pick one out that looks good," Mira said as she headed for the stairs.

"I still think this is a bad idea. But if that's what you think we should do then I'll trust you. While you pick a job, though, I'm going to go find Natsu and let him know that we'll be gone!" Lisanna called out as she ran for the guild doors.

Mira froze and clenched her fists. "Damn it. Can I really ever escape this?"

"What was that, Mira?" Elfman asked.

Mira shook her head. "It was nothing," she assured him as she hurried her pace to the stairs.

Natsu sat at the riverbed in East Forest, fishing pole in hand, with his brow furrowed. Happy sat beside him with his own fishing pole while singing songs of fish and how delicious they were. The two could usually be found fishing since it was Happy's favorite past time. Natsu didn't mind it either, but the quiet activity was giving him far too much time to think.

"Happy," he finally said. "Are you sure that Lisanna wasn't sick?"

"I'm pretty sure," the cat replied. "Why?"

"I think I caught what she had."

"But she wasn't sick."

Natsu grumbled. "Then I don't get it."

"Get what?"

"I wasn't feeling like myself yesterday during the festival."

Happy could feel a tug on his line and he began to excitedly pull on it. "But you seemed fine to me."

"Yeah, I was fine," Natsu said, "but then out of nowhere it was like my body was out of whack."

Happy continued to tug with all of his strength. "Maybe you just ate too much."

Natsu looked up at the golden sky. "It didn't feel like a stomach ache. My body felt…hot. I never feel hot. And it felt like my chest was tighter than usual."

"That is weird," Happy said as he gave the line one last yank. A blue fish no bigger than Happy came flying out of the water and landed on Natsu's lap. "Yay! Natsu, can you give me my fish please?"

Natsu wasn't listening, but he felt the fish land in his lap. He looked down at it, but didn't fully register what it was. "Maybe it was food poisoning?" he questioned himself softly as he picked up the fish. "Could that be it?" He breathed a small flame over the fish, cooking it instantly. "I can't catch that from anyone, so it would fit with Lisanna not being sick." He put the fish in his mouth and chewed. "What do you think, Happy? Does that make sense?" His friend didn't respond, so he looked over to him. "Happy?"

Happy was staring at Natsu in horror. "Natsu….you….you…"

Natsu swallowed. "I what?"

Happy's look of horror changed to one of pure rage. "YOU ATE MY FISH!"

"Huh? I did?" Natsu blinked.

"Yes! How did you not notice?"

"Sorry, I was kind of spaced out."

"I can't believe you ate my fish without even asking me first!"

"Hey, I said I was sorry!" Natsu exclaimed.

Happy summoned his wings and began flying away. "We're enemies now, Natsu!"

Natsu leapt to his feet. "Oh come on! Stop being a baby!" he called out as he ran after him.

The two kept up the chase all the way until they reached South Gate Park. Happy's wings began to tire, so he landed under the shade of the Sola tree. He sat against the tree, closed his eyes, and crossed his tiny arms in a huff.

Natsu stopped beside him and looked down. "I did apologize to you, you know."

"I'm not listening to you."

Natsu pressed his back against the cool bark and slid down to the ground. "I really am sorry, though. There's just a lot going on in my head right now. There's so much I don't understand and I feel like it's overwhelming me."

"Not listening."

Natsu let his head sink. 'If I can't talk to Happy about this then who can I talk to? Gildarts is on a mission again. Gramps would just give me another riddle and I have enough problems already. Erza would probably give me a lesson and I really don't want to go through that. I guess I could ask Mira…'

"There you are!" Natsu looked up to see Lisanna running over to them. The young girl was smiling as she came to a stop in front of the two. She looked between them and could immediately tell what was going on. "Don't tell me you two are fighting again."

"Oh. Hey Lisanna," Natsu said softly.

"You bet we're fighting!" Happy cried. "Natsu ate my whole fish and he didn't even ask me first!"

"Look, I already said that I was sorry!" Natsu snapped. "Why do I even bother?"

"It's always right to apologize, Natsu," Lisanna said. "And Happy, you shouldn't hold grudges."

"But Lisanna," Happy wailed.

"Alright, Lisanna," came the sound of Elfman's voice. He and Mira were walking over to where the three were stationed under the Sola tree. "Come on, let's go. We've gotta get to work."

Lisanna turned and nodded. "I know." She looked back at Natsu. "I'm glad I found you. I just wanted to let you know that the three of us were going to be going on a mission."

"Really? It's kinda late," Natsu said.

"Yeah, but it's an S-Class quest!" Elfman said excitedly.

Natsu was suddenly on full alert as his eyes snapped open. He leapt to his feet. "No way! So unfair! Why do you get to go on an S-Class quest?"

"What kind of job is it?" Happy asked.

"It's actually an emergency request," Mira said with a smile. "It came in just as I was looking at the board. They want us to kill off some monster that they call the Beast." She was happy that such a request came in. It was the perfect opportunity to get her mind off of her problems.

"Aw man, that sounds awesome!" Natsu exclaimed.

Mira's playful side kicked in as soon as she saw Natsu's reaction. "Do you wanna come with us, Natsu? You might learn a thing or two," she asked with a wink. It was only after she asked that she realized her slip up. 'No! How could I say that? The whole point is to not think about Natsu and to get him out of my head. Having him there will only make things worse for me! What was I thinking? Stupid, Mira! Stupid, stupid, stupid!'

Fortunately for Mira, Elfman took great offense to the offer. "Say what? No way! I don't want Natsu there! I'm the man of this family and I can protect you two on my own!"

Natsu began stomping his feet like a child. "Man, why do you have to hog all of the fun? Take me with you, damn it!"

"I said no!" Elfman said firmly.

Mira shrugged. "Oh well. Elfman doesn't want you there, so I guess you can't come. Sorry, Natsu," she said teasingly, even though deep down she was thankful to her brother for providing her with an escape. "We better be off then." She turned around and began walking away.

"Bye Natsu! Bye Happy!" Lisanna said as she ran after her sister and brother. She then stopped. "Oh, and Natsu?"

"Yeah?" he asked with slight irritation. He really wanted to go on the mission. It would let him fight and he would be able to get his mind off of the strange, unfamiliar feelings he had been having.

She turned around and smiled. "Remember, you're the Dad. That means you have to take care of your wife and son."

Natsu blinked. "What does any of that have to do with this?"

"It's normal for family to fight because they're so close, but it's important that you always make up. Pull together and work things out because that's what families do. Remember that, okay? Happy's still our son, no matter what."

Natsu blushed slightly. "Geez, what are you bringing up something like that for?"

Lisanna giggled and chased after her siblings. "I'll see you when I get back, okay? And you two better have made up when I do!"

"Fine," Natsu called out and slumped back down onto the ground. He watched the three siblings walk away. "Why couldn't I go? So unfair." He looked to Happy. "So Happy, what do you say I go catch you a giant fish?"

Happy leapt to his small feet. "Aye sir! That's a great way to apologize!"

Natsu sighed. "Of course it is."

A FEW HOURS LATER

Flames flickered against the night sky. Smoke billowed and lingered in the broken town. Buildings lay in crumpled, burning heaps.

Mira screamed in pain as she fell to the ground. Her body was covered in scrapes and bruises and her clothes were tattered and torn. She pushed herself up into a sitting position and immediately grabbed her right arm as she supported her weight with it. "Damn it," she hissed in pain as she looked around, quickly noticing that she was in the bordering forest. "I'm not even inside the town anymore."

The sound of approaching footsteps snapped her attention frontward and she gritted her teeth. Approaching her was a massive red and green creature. It had large claws, razor sharp teeth, and two horns jutted out of its forehead. It had a white beard and long white hair running down its back. A scar crossed its right eye. It also appeared to be wearing blue pants. It glared at Mira with glowing purple eyes as it continued to approach.

"Elfman!" she cried out. There was no response. "Damn it, Elfman! Pull yourself together!"

"Mira!" Lisanna called out as she flew over to her sister in her Animal Soul: Bird form. She landed in front of her sister and returned to her human form while looking at the massive approaching Beast. "I did as you asked and evacuated all of the citizens. Now let me help you!"

Mira winced in pain as she tried to move. "You can't help. Just run, Lisanna. It's too dangerous here."

"What are you talking about? I can't leave you!" Lisanna refused.

"Listen to me! I was getting beat up pretty bad, so Elfman tried to take over the Beast in order to protect me," Mira said.

Lisanna's eyes widened as she looked at the Beast. "No…you can't mean that…that's Elfman?"

"It almost worked," Mira said sadly. "He almost took it over, but the Beast was just too powerful for him. And now he's totally lost control!"

Lisanna bent over and helped Mira to her feet by slinging her older sister's arm around her shoulders. "Well then what do we do? We need to save him somehow!"

"You need to run. I told you that already," Mira said. "Meanwhile, I'll try to get him to come to his senses before the Beast completely takes over his soul."

Lisanna nodded. "Got it." She then removed herself from Mira and walked forward.

"Lisanna!" Mira called out. She tried to go after her, but her wounds had her frozen. She quickly fell to her knees. "What the hell do you think you're doing? Get back here!"

Lisanna wasn't listening. She walked up to the Beast until she was right in front of him. "Big brother Elf?" she said softly. "You feeling okay? It's me, Lisanna. You know, you're little sister. Oh, and big sister Mira is here, too."

The Beast stopped and tilted its head as it looked down at Lisanna.

Lisanna gave the Beast a big smile. "We're a family, remember? And when times are tough, a family pulls together and works things out. So how about this? Why don't all three of us go home together and talk about what happened here today? Mira can make some delicious dinner. Maybe Natsu can even come over. I bet he'd love to hear the story."

The Beast narrowed its eyes at Lisanna.

"I promise we're not mad at you," Lisanna said.

The Beast released a loud roar that echoed through the air. It lifted its hand in preparation to strike.

But Lisanna wouldn't move. Instead, she stood her ground and held her arms out as if she were motioning for a hug. "Come on. There's nothing to be afraid of, big brother Elf. We still love you and we always will."

And then the Beast swung its massive arm and batted Lisanna away like she was nothing more than an insect.

In that moment, time seemed to stand still for Mira. She watched as Lisanna went sailing through the air. And all she could do was watch. Never before had she felt so powerless. She reached out towards Lisanna's body, tears stinging her eyes. "NOOOOOOOOOOO! LISANNAAAAAAA!"

Her body screamed at her as she struggled to move. However, in spite of the pain, she was determined to reach her sister. With every ounce of her strength she had, she got to her feet and stumbled her way to where Lisanna had flown. "Lisanna," she whimpered softly. "Lisanna. Lisanna. Lisanna!" Step by step she struggled her way through the trees until she reached a clearing. And there, lying motionlessly on the ground, was Lisanna. "Lisanna!" With the last bit of strength she had, she ran to her sister's side and collapsed onto her knees. "Lisanna! Lisanna!" she cried as she shook her sister. "Lisanna, wake up!"

However, her sister didn't answer. She lay completely still with her eyes closed. And then her body began to glow as the red Fairy Tail emblem on her left shoulder began to fade away.

"Lisanna! You have to wake up, Lisanna! Open your eyes!" Mira shrieked as tears rolled down her cheeks.

Lisanna's body began to glow even brighter and it began to lift off of the ground.

"No," Mira said softly as her eyes widened. "Why are you glowing? What's happening? I don't understand!" Her sister's body lifted higher and higher, so Mira threw her arms around her to try to keep her still. "NO! DON'T LEAVE ME!" she cried as her sister began to fade away just like her Fairy Tail mark had. The tears were falling even harder. "You can't disappear on me! Please don't go, Lisanna! You have to stay with me! You have to tell Natsu how you feel about him! STAY HERE WITH ME!"

But Lisanna had completely faded away. Mira's arms no longer held her. Instead, they were greeted by the cold night air. Mira hugged her own body and let herself fall forward as her sorrow drained her of all her energy. "NOOOOOOO!" she wailed as she cried into the hard ground.

Lisanna had died and she was powerless to save her.

THE NEXT DAY

The rain poured down from the sky, matching the mood of the Fairy Tail guild hall. Everyone sat in silence, crying over the loss of one of their own. There was not a single dry eye in the entire guild.

The guild doors burst open and in ran Natsu. He was soaking wet from head to toe. He was panting heavily as he ran a hand through his sopping wet pink hair. He was about to greet everyone when he noticed the looks on everyone's faces. "Hey. What's going on?"

Mira looked up at him with tears pouring down her face. She had bandages on her face and her right arm was in a sling. "Natsu…," she whispered.

"Why does everyone look so sad?" He looked around again. "Where's Lisanna?"

Mira couldn't answer. She broke down crying as fresh tears began to fall.

Elfman's entire large frame was shaking as he cried. He had bandages wrapped around his forehead and right eye. "She…She's dead, Natsu."

Natsu stood frozen. His eyes were wide. He couldn't believe what he had just heard. "That can't be true. No way."

"I'm sorry," Elfman rasped. "I'm sorry."

Natsu's head sunk. 'Lisanna's…dead?'

Happy stood on the ground beside him as tears immediately fell from his eyes. "Lisanna's dead? Why? How could this happen?"

Natsu suddenly took off running back outside. He didn't care that it was still raining. He barely noticed with the tears running down his face. It would probably be raining for the rest of his life. He ran and ran until he came upon the place where he and Lisanna used to play when they were young. He stood in the rain in front of the small hut where they used to play house, back when Happy was still an egg. His shoulders shook as he cried. "Lisanna…how could you die? Happy and I made up. We were going to show you as soon as you got back." He looked around and spotted a large boulder. He slowly walked up to it and pressed a palm against the slick surface. "Lisanna…" With a furious cry, he lit his hands on fire and began punching the rock with every ounce of his strength. He kept at it until the large boulder was nothing more than a flat stone slab. He picked it up, walked over to the hut, and drove the slab into the ground. He straightened up and stared down at the stone. "I know that you'd prefer to have your grave out here than in some graveyard." He bowed his head. "Goodbye, Lisanna." He turned around and slowly walked off.

And the rain continued to fall.

Elfman sat kneeling in front of the grave stone that Natsu had set up. Happy had told him and Mira where Natsu had probably gone and, when they went looking for him, they found the stone. Tears streamed down his face and mixed with the rain. His large shoulders were slumped as they shook. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. It's all my fault. It's my fault that Lisanna is dead," he sobbed.

"No, it's not your fault," Mira said softly. Her head was hanging so her bangs covered her tearful gaze. "Don't you remember what she told you? Even though it makes us sad, all living things have to die eventually."

Elfman sniffed as he recalled that day. His parakeet had passed away and, while mourning it, Lisanna had come to his side and said those words to him to make him feel better. He had been too distraught to appreciate her words and had ended up pushing her away. "You were there that day?" he asked.

"Lisanna will continue to live on inside of our hearts for as long as we remember her," Mira said, her voice wavering as more tears began to fall.

Elfman turned around to look at his sister. "We will," he whispered.

Mira met his gaze. "From now on, we'll live life for her and promise that we will never forget."

Elfman closed his eyes as the tears just wouldn't stop. He let his head sink down into the mud as he continued to cry over the loss of his sister.

Mira couldn't stand being there anymore. The sight of her sister's gravestone was just too unreal. She couldn't bring herself to fully accept that Lisanna had died. The whole thing seemed like an awful nightmare that she just couldn't wake up from. She turned around and walked away, leaving her brother to mourn alone.

She continued to wander, her mind blank as she went and her gaze on the muddy ground. All she could see in her mind was her sister's usual bright, smiling face and the peaceful look she had when she passed away. 'How could I let this happen? I never should have chosen an S-Class mission. How could I have been so selfish? Lisanna's dead all because I wanted to stop thinking about Natsu…Natsu.' She stopped walking. 'Natsu. You should have come. If you were there, Lisanna never would have died. You would have seen to it that everyone got out safe. That's just the kind of man you are.' She looked up and noticed that in her mindless traveling, she had made it to a small house isolated in the woods. She turned her head slightly to see a sign that read "Natsu & Happy". She blinked away some tears. 'Natsu's house. I've never been here before. I wonder why I wound up here.'

As if in a trance, Mira walked towards the house. She walked up the steps until she was at the door. She knocked softly three times and waited.

After what felt like forever, the door opened and there stood Natsu. Dried tears stained his cheeks as he looked at Mira with the most solemn look she had ever seen on him. "Oh. Hey Mira," he greeted quietly. "What are you doing here?"

Mira stared at him awhile before her shoulders began to tremble and she fell forward into his chest. She wailed at the top of her lungs as tears flowed down her cheeks once more.

She then felt a pair of strong and warm arms wrap around her shivering frame. "I'm sorry, Mira," she heard Natsu say. She looked up at him to see that he was fighting back tears. "I should have come with you."

Mira shook her head. "None of this is your fault, Natsu. Everything is my fault. I'm the reason Lisanna is dead."

"Don't say that," Natsu said. "It's not."

"Yes it is!" she shrieked as she buried her face into his chest. "How can you say that it's not?"

"Because I know that whatever happened, Lisanna knew what she was doing. She did what she knew was best. And I know that she would never want you to carry around that guilt."

Natsu's words stopped the shivering. For that moment, she stopped crying. She looked up at him once more. "Natsu…"

He gave her a big smile. "We'll get through this. Lisanna wouldn't want us to be sad. She'd want us to smile no matter what. If she were here, I'm sure she would say 'Whenever you're feeling down, that's when you need to smile the most'."

Mira tried to return the smile. 'Leave it to Natsu to somehow make me feel a little better at a time like this.'

Natsu took a step back. "You should probably find Elfman. He shouldn't be alone right now."

Mira threw herself into Natsu's arms again. "Don't make me leave you."

"What?" Natsu asked.

"Let me stay with you. Please, Natsu. I don't want to leave your warm embrace."

Natsu's heart began to beat faster. 'Damn it. Again? This is not the time to be feeling sick. Lisanna's dead and Mira needs me. I have to be there for her to support her.' He nodded. "Sure."

Mira looked up at him again. "Thank you," she said.

He smiled at her. "Anything to help you out, Mira."

In that moment, she wasn't sure what came over her. Maybe it was the grief of losing her sister. Maybe it was the words of kindness that he spoke. Maybe it was the suppressed feelings bubbling to the surface. Maybe it was a combination of all three.

Mira leaned forward and kissed Natsu's warm lips.