Every night, for the blonde teen, had suddenly been filled with fears. Sleep was impossible. It was impossible when bad dreams plagued her mind. Still, she tried to sleep, but rest wasn't possible. Ever since she had come back, she had been having an abundance of nightmares.
Dreams of rejection. Dreams of death. Dreams of loneliness. Her mind never seemed to run out of fears to play with; dreams to torture her with. It was depressing and really starting to take its toll on her.
She was afraid of sleep. The girl had had so many bad dreams no matter how many times times she tried to sleep that she had actually begun to fear sleep. And when she did manage sleep, she only received thirty minutes of rest before her mind began to haunt her again. In the time period of five day, the most rest she had managed was two hours.
She was running on fumes. It was a surprise to her that she could even walk, though she started swaying now with every step. Bags were apparent under the teen's eyes no matter how much make-up she tried her hand at. At this point, when she found herself dozing off, she was quick to stop it with a few splashes of icy-cool water or something similar. She just couldn't sleep at this point.
The blonde teen began slapping the sides of her face as she released a yawn. She knew lack of sleep wasn't good for her health, but she didn't want to risk yet more nightmares. She had, of course by doing this, caught the attention of a certain Mirajane Strauss.
The white-haired girl set her hand on the blonde's hand. Her eyes were filled with concern. "Lucy, are you all right? Have you been getting proper amounts of sleep?"
Lucy turned away from her friend and allowed her tired eyes to slowly look over the guild filled with people. Or rather, she was looking until her eyes hit the sight of pink. She found herself now staring at Natsu. She hadn't talked to him much since their argument, or rather she didn't talk to him at all. Her heart was starting to ache without him, but she mostly ignored it.
Natsu smiled at Erza, who happened to be sitting across from him. He'd be lying if he said the argument hadn't bothered him, but so long as Lucy refused to talk to him, he wouldn't talk to her. He regretted his words. He regretted telling her that he would come if she was caught again. In reality, he'd come for her in a heartbeat no matter the danger. There was no way he'd let her be taken again.
It didn't matter how long it took, or how long she was mad at him, he would always come and get her. For now, all he could do was wait for her acceptance again.
Natsu released a sigh. He was so bored without Lucy, and Happy was far more concerned with his fish. Truth be told, he'd go on a mission to occupy his mind, but he was so used to going on missions with Lucy that it didn't feel right without her. It was like something was missing without her.
An intense heat hit the back of the boy's neck and rose up to his head and descended down his spine. It was most definitely the heat of being stared at. Confused, his onyx eyes ran around the room until they found the culprit. His eyes met up with chocolate brown eyes. Fixated on them, Natsu knew they could only belong to that of Lucy.
Lucy blushed and turned away. She could feel the heat of his stare for quite some time before it finally disappeared. She turned to look again, mouth slightly open, eyebrows pushed together in despair. When she turned back, she laid her arms onto the table, then her head on her arms, with a sigh.
"I can't believe," Lucy started with a pout, looking up at Mirajane from under her bangs, "that it's already been two weeks since our argument, and he still refuses to talk to me!"
"Why don't you just talk to him then?" Mira questioned.
Lucy sighed again. "I'm the reason we fought! I can't just go up and talk to him as if nothing happened."
"Sure you can!" Mira stated with a smile. "All you have to do is walk up to him and say hello."
The distressed teen shook her head. "I don't think he wants to talk to me any ways. Especially not after what I said to him. And especially not after what he said to me."
"Do you regret what you said?"
Lucy thought it over. She did but didn't regret it. True, he didn't deserve to have been yelled at, but she just couldn't have held it in any longer. The girl nodded. "I regret what I said."
"What did you tell him?" Mirajane questioned, not actually knowing the whole story.
Distressed still, the girl released a half-yawn, half-sigh. "I told him that it was his fault I was ever in the situation."
Mirajane's worry was obvious. "What else did you tell him?"
More distress. "I kind of told him that he was too dense. That I said without thinking. But I was trying to hint that he just wasn't looking hard enough, I think. I don't actually remember much. Probably because I'm exhausted, but slightly because my emotions had suddenly taken over my thought process."
"But you were obviously wrong." The elder girl said. "Even what you were trying to say was wrong."
Lucy finally lifted her head from the table, staring at her friend in confusion. Though Mirajane was smiling softly, her eyes were hard. Lucy lifted up a little more, though she was still super exhausted. Mirajane continued. "Out of all of us, Natsu was the most worried; the most concerned. He spent all his time researching information in books, taking notes, staring at maps."
Lucy stared at her friend. The very idea of Natsu reading seemed unreal. It had to be a lie. After all, the boy barely read the information on the mission notices let alone books. But still, if he was looking through books to find clues on where she was, then he really must have been worried.
"Eventually," the girl continued, "he started being a bit of a recluse. He stayed at home. Rarely did he come out. The only person that saw him was Erza, and naturally Happy. And from what I had heard from Erza, he was always lying on the floor, either sleeping of going over his work again."
The information surprised Lucy, but she refused to let her surprise show. In all actuality, she almost didn't believe what Mriajane said, but she really had no reason not to believe the girl. Besides, Mirajane wasn't one to lie, she just said what she knew and what she heard.
The blonde teen threw her head back down on the table with a groan. All this information was making her head spin, of course it could just be from how tired she was, and now it was giving her a major headache. Lucy yawned, closing her eyes for but a moment.
The minutes she closed her eyes, though she wasn't asleep, the dreams kicked on. Natsu dead on the sideline: Erza crying: Wendy and Juvia and Levy completely rejecting the girl. There was destruction, buildings destroyed. The sky was of an ugly purple, red, and brown. Death was everywhere.
Lucy gasped and quickly opened her eyes back up. That was no where close to the worse things she'd seen yet. The idea of closing her eyes again scared her. Lucy let out a slight moan from not being able to sleep.
"Hi, Gray." Mira smiled, patting Lucy on the head before turning away.
Lucy sat up quickly, acknowledging Gray with a smile. Gray nodded at Mira and sat next to Lucy. He was shirtless, nipples sticking out from the cool breeze. His body was, as always, well toned and tanned. A silver necklace hung loosely around his neck, as it always did.
He turned to Lucy. "What are you doing later?"
Heat ran up Lucy's face. She knew she wasn't doing anything. In fact, she had just planned on going home and writing, perhaps try to sleep, but it was weird that Gray asked. It's not that she didn't like Gray, he just wasn't her idea of anything more than a friend.
Lucy shook her head, deciding to be honest about it. "I probably won't be doing anything."
"Good." Gray says. The girl's head starts to spin again, this time in confusion. Good? Her not doing anything was good? Gray noticed this and continues speaking. "Well, I wanted to know if you'd like to go out later?"
'Oh God!' Lucy thought. Her head was spinning faster than ever before. 'Is he trying to ask me out on a date? What do I do? What do I say? I can't go on a date with Gray! Or can I? I mean, he wouldn't be my first choice, but he's asking, so I might as well go. But Juvia likes Gray! She might think that I'm trying to take him from her! I can't go on a date with Gray!'
"Before you start thinking so, and you probably already are," Gray started with a smile, "I'm not asking you out on a date. You just look like you need a day out."
A sigh of relief was released only within Lucy's mind. 'At least it isn't a date.'
Lucy shook her head. "I might be doing something later, now that I think about it. But thank you for the offer."
"Thinking about Natsu and sulking around isn't something to do." Gray frowned. "Luce, you need to go out and have some fun. You've been acting strange since you returned. I think this is just what you need."
"I still don't know, Gray." Lucy said. "I'm not sure if I really want to go out tonight."
"Luce," Gray started, "you've got everyone in the guild worried sick. Even that flame-brain moron is worried. If tonight can fix all that, then go for it. You just might start to feel better."
Lucy mulled over her options with a sigh. The blonde teen knew he was right. She really probably was going to sit around and sulk. She knew that since she returned, something has been off about her. She just wasn't sure if spending time with Gray was really going to help her feel better.
But if it could make her feel better about things, then it'd be worth it. If it could make her feel better, and she decided not to go, she'd really be missing out on a great opportunity. Again, however, was the question of whether or not she really wanted to spend time with Gray. Lucy opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out as she was quickly cut off by Gray.
"It's okay if you really don't want to go, I understand. If you say no, it's perfectly fine." Gray said with a smile.
A flash of heat ran up Lucy's face. It couldn't hurt saying yes, right? Lucy nodded. "I'll go."
"Great! Meet me at this one tree by the riverbank in the park. You'll know which tree it is." He said as he turned to leave, already starting to walk away.
Lucy pulled back. "Wait! How will I know?"
Gray raised his hand at her. He didn't say anything, he just kept walking away. Lucy raised her hand to stop him, but kept herself from calling. If he said she would know, then really she should be able to figure it out, right?
The girl stood up. 'He said it wasn't a date, but I'll dress fairly nice any ways.'
Lucy brushed her skirt. All she did was change her shirt to a pink tank top and called Cancer to help her with her hair, which had been tied off with a pink ribbon. She brushed her bangs again off to the side with her fingers.
She wasn't entirely sure whether or not Gray would be there yet, or even if she'd know which tree, but she kept on walking up the river bank regardless. None of the trees really stood out. They were all normal. And even the strange tree that looked to have a face similar to Makarov didn't stand out to her. Perhaps he was just pulling her leg?
But then she saw it. She had caught sight of a small gleaming ice sculptures on a tree. There had to be a reason it was there. That had to be a sign from Gray. Lucy walked faster towards it. Then a body came into sight. Lucy released a sigh of relief.
The body began to take form, colours starting to show. Blue pants, red shirt, white scarf, pink hair. Lucy stopped in her tracks, already so close to the tree. Pink hair? Gray's hair was black, not pink!
'He said I'd know when I got there, right?' Lucy's eyes rolled over to the ice. 'Is that the signal? Why is he here? Don't tell me...'
Her voice trailed off in her head. She mumbled his name under her breath. "Natsu..."
The boy turned to the sound, clearly hearing it with his astounding hearing. He blushed with a frown. He started back at her. "Lucy?"
Hi hi. Sorry I took so long with this chapter. I was a bit busy with my bullsh*t story I'm writing for Fairy Tail with my friend. Um... I'm sorry this chapter is a little bit boring. I'm setting it up for the next chapter. The next chapter will be a lot more interesting... if you know what I mean ;D Oh. I got so mad earlier. I had actually finished typing this at like... 4... and was uploading at 5. Well, I was able to upload it on Quotev... And then fanfiction wouldn't let me log in... So now it's 11 and I feel so bad because it's taken me 6 hours just to get it uploaded it onto here... OTL Sorry.
But yeah. There's gonna be a lemon in the next chapter. I already decided upon that. I know I've taken so long to add the damn lemon, but I figured that when the time came, it would just happen. OTL I'm not actually one to normally write lemons. Most lemons I write are only in my head. Never on paper let alone on the internet, so I'll try my best. No promises though. It might not be that great.
If you guys could comment, it'd be greatly appreciated. Perhaps you could send me PMs on how the lemon should work? I'm new at that kind of stuff, when it comes to actually writing it. Perhaps you could just comment and wish me the best of luck? I don't know. But suggestions are greatly appreciated. Actually, comments in general are appreciated. Anything you want to say! Anything you want to point out! Anything! I love comments.
Lol. That's enough of this. Um... so yeah! Keep an eye out for the next chapter! I'll try to write it as soon as possible, even though I've been recently busy. I'll do my best, so keep on reading, keep on commenting. And, if you haven't done so yet, don't forget to favourite and follow! I love you all so dearly!
~ZatsuneMiku1/Rebecca Lauber