Author's Note: Ugh, sorry for taking so long. School's really been hell and you've all been so patient. A thousand thanks to all of you! Thanks, Panda (Mrs. HopeEstheim), for pointing out my typos!

On a side note, I have been completely spazzing (which I never do) about The Legend of Korra's release. Anybody else a fan? I recently took up a writing prompt as a break in school with my brilliant friend Irradiance. If anyone wants to read that story, it's called Cactonic and can be accessed through my profile. Irradiance's page can also be found through my profile!

So, do you think this story is going to get all angsty? Nope! Not this one! This chapter and next one are a little bit more depressing than the others, but things will be resolved soon. Of course, the next update won't be for a little while because of finals coming up and I do want to get another chapter for You Stole the Rain written. I am actually shocked how small the Gruvia community is! They need more love!

Anyhow, here's the next chapter!

Possession by HawkofNavarre

Chapter 14 – Ignorance

Of all things Natsu could have been defeated by, he hadn't expected "heartbreak" to be it. That wasn't to say that he'd been crippled by an emotional overload of hurt feelings, but he did hurt. It almost felt a little shameful. This man did not let things like this get him down, and here he was feeling irrationally depressed.

Okay, some might disagree with him on that fact, but the dragon slayer thought that feeling this way about things that didn't even matter was a waste of time. He'd lived way longer without romantic need than with it, so why should he need it now? He'd been good and fine until this whole predicament rolled around. He certainly didn't need any of this drama! Natsu didn't do drama. How did his life get dramatic?

"This is dumb," he muttered to himself moodily as he walked along the street. The fire mage couldn't help being a little testy this morning. He'd had a hard time sleeping and even found little appeal in having food when he woke up not two hours after he'd finally gotten to sleep.

Last night had hit him hard. He missed the days when all he had to worry about was Erza or incurring the wrath of the master by destroying too many things and getting him in trouble with the Council. Those seemed like a passing thought now; they came and went as quickly as fire on a match. They were nothing in comparison with his worries regarding Lucy.

Mavis, thinking about her hurt. He'd always wondered about how she felt for him and yesterday had answered every anxious question that had crossed his mind. Maybe he would have been better off not knowing and feeling afraid of what the truth might be, but he guessed closure was nice—if nice was even what he could call it. At least he wasn't stuck going around in circles anymore.

But damn it. This was tougher than he expected it to be. Yesterday, Natsu had discovered just how much his heart could hurt. He'd left the auction as soon as he could and what had been a mad pounding last night was now a dull stab. It was nothing like the anguish he felt when he realized that Igneel was gone; it was a different kind of pain, yet equally as bad in every way. The fire-eater had known full well what she thought about him, and now he knew how she felt about him too.

It was just…how could she do that to him? The stellar spirit mage had touched him so affectionately, like it was the truth—like it mattered when she'd done it all just to prove a point. Did she expect him to just brush it off? Did she just…just…how could she do that to him? He trusted her and that was how she used it. Natsu wasn't even sure if he was more angry or hurt at that moment.

Either way, Lucy was still part of the guild and she was still his friend. She probably hadn't even realized that what she'd done was wrong. Their minds were completely different, after all, but that didn't really change anything. In the end, she had to understand that he could be hurt by her actions too. He was simply too infuriated at this time to explain that to her. The blonde would probably ask him about it if she saw him today, which he really hoped did not happen. Natsu was really intent on getting, hmm, perhaps a week-long solo mission. It would be perfect to escape for a short while, gain some cash and calm himself down. It would give him time to lock away all these feelings that he shouldn't have. It would be just him and…

Wait, where the heck was Happy? The cat hadn't come home last night. The dragon slayer sighed and kicked a stray rock in frustration. It was at times like these that he wished the Exceed would spend a little less time with Charle.

…Augh, no he didn't. He was glad for Happy. He just felt exceptionally sorry for himself.

The rose-haired male found that he was feeling particularly short-tempered when he arrived at the guild. He seriously just wanted to grab a mission and get out of there. If Gray were to approach him then, the dragon slayer knew he was going to get into a fight and he just wanted to leave. He rarely wanted to be alone, but then again, it was pretty uncommon for him to experience cardiac incapacitation as well. He really needed a break from everything. Maybe for just one day, things could be allowed to go right.

"You sly bastard," an irritable voice sprung up from beside him.

Wow, Natsu could already feel himself itching to hit something.

"What do you want, stripper?" the fire mage growled in annoyance, not bothering to look over.

"You asshole. You tryin' to make us look bad?" Gajeel's voice came as well.

This time, the flame dragon slayer decided that if he were being ambushed by another guy besides his main rival, there must be some reason as to why. He stole a weary glance at the fully-loaded mission board only meters away, then turned to confront his current problems.

"What the hell are you guys talking about?" he questioned them bluntly.

"Are you kidding, you—"

"Wait," the studded male interrupted, "he might actually not know. He left early."

Gray gave his ally a sour look. "That doesn't change the fact that he made an offer. There are rules, damn it!"

"Yeah, but this guy's a dumbass! He probably doesn't even know there are rules!"

"I don't care! I'm gunna smash his face in!"

"You couldn't even if you wanted to, weakling," Natsu shot back, always up for a challenge though completely ignorant of what they were speaking of.

The iron dragon slayer glared back at the ice mage. "We'll beat him up later. We need to teach him now or he might do this again."

Gray seemed to relax a bit at this statement, apparently seeing merit in whatever argument the former Phantom Lord member had put out. The third, confused male felt his own need to melt some ice fall slightly as well, but his feelings of irritability had risen significantly. He didn't exactly want any new mysteries popping up while he was recovering from the revelation of the last one.

"Can you hurry up and talk? I want to go on a mission," the fire-eater growled in exasperation.

His two accusers exchanged looks, but Gray was the first to speak: "…Shit, he actually doesn't know."

"Which is why we're going to teach him before he screws us over a second time," Gajeel replied gruffly.

"Quit ignoring me!" Natsu demanded, a thin layer of flames now coating his body. He really was out of patience today.

It was enough to finally get an explanation as his fellow dragon slayer turned to him and crossed his arms. "You ain't going on a mission today; you're going on a date."

A…date? What was that again? And why was he going on one? Oh, wasn't a date that thing that Lucy liked to do with guys all the time? If that was what it was, Natsu was pretty sure he hadn't agreed to do anything like that, and he definitely wouldn't have chosen any mission that involved that.

"I am…?"

"You won one of the 'prizes' last night, but I guess you didn't hear it since you left so quickly," Gajeel continued informatively.

The rose-haired pyromaniac cocked his head, unable to comprehend the beginning of that sentence. "What does that even mean?"

The ice-maker briefly looked as though he was ready to commit homicide again, but instead settled for wrestling with his t-shirt. "I means you bought a date last night, moron. It was a silent auction!" he clarified, nearly ripping his troublesome garment off in the process.

Natsu thought back intensely. He couldn't have possibly bought a date because he hadn't bid on anything. He'd been too caught up in the conversation he'd had with Lucy earlier that day, and then he almost lost his sanity when she had taken the stage. That had been bad. The dragon slayer had been mesmerized by her beauty and her presence while she had been up there. It'd seemed like his partner had been in a whole other world, but her absent expression had only made her more desirable. He'd snapped out of his stupor as soon as she'd left the stage, which was when he had realized that his very flexible pants were a little tight in the crotch area.

Oh hell, had he run.

After taking care of that catastrophe ("Trains... Gray in a bikini… Ugh, Master in a bikini…"), the fire mage had been found by Lucy, the thing he was now mulling over had happened, and he had gone home following. There really hadn't been any time between those things to make an offer on a girl—not that he wanted to. If he had bid on anyone, it would have been Lucy, he supposed, and Natsu knew that she wouldn't have appreciated it if a potential bachelor was turned away because he didn't want any creeps touching her.

But anyway, how'd he get this date again?

"I never bid on anyone yesterday," Natsu said honestly, "but even if I did, why are you guys so mad about it?"

"Because…! I don't want Juvia to think…" Gray trailed off in either shame or embarrassment. Maybe both.

"By being the only guy in the guild to pull out enough cash to get the girl he likes on a date, you're making everyone who didn't look like a piece of shit to those damn harpies," Gajeel grunted out. He seemed like he wanted to place blame on someone for whatever this was, but didn't really believe it was anybody's fault but his own. "You don't do that to other guys. It's a rule."

"I thought we were just supposed to keep from pissing off Erza," the confused male stated tersely.

"It's not a guild rule, you moron! It's a guy rule!" Gray exploded in frustration.

"How come I never heard about them?" Natsu asked suspiciously.

"Nobody tells you about them. You're just supposed to know," the ice mage retorted. His shirt was pretty much getting shredded now.

"That doesn't make any sense," Natsu growled back, rather sick of being called an idiot by both of them. They were the ones who didn't have a logically sound argument. "How am I supposed to know 'guy rules' if nobody ever told me about them?"

"Gajeel, you'd better get out of the way because I'm going to decapitate this worthless piece of sh—"

"Good morning, Natsu, Gajeel, Gray-san!"

Raging Gray was forced to cool down when Wendy came up to the group with a bright smile on her face. Charle and Happy were nowhere to be seen, but the dragon slayer was more curious as to why she wanted to talk to the three of them. Romeo was usually at the guild quarters at this hour, and the two young teens were pretty much inseparable.

"Uh, hey…" Natsu coughed while the other gave her a slight nod of their heads.

She looked incredibly excited for some reason, beaming and rocking back and forth on the flat of her feet. "So, um, are you ready for your date?"

"I dunno. I should probably figure out who I apparently bid on first," he sighed tiredly. The day he'd wanted to get away from ended up being latched around his ankle instead.

"You…you don't know who?" the sky dragon slayer asked unsteadily. "Weren't you here for the winners yesterday?"

"This guy left early, but you'd think he'd remember pulling out twenty-thousand jewels for a girl," the half-naked man snickered.

"T-twenty-thousand jewels?" Natsu spluttered, eyes going wide as soon as he heard those words. "I don't have that kind of money to spend!"

"Oh yeah? Then why'd you bid?"

"I didn't, bastard!"

"Just admit it, you—"

"Gray-san!" Wendy shouted, suddenly looking very nervous. "Please don't blame him. He's telling the truth."

All three males turned and stared at the young girl expectantly.

"I didn't come up with the idea for the auction on my own. Charle and Happy helped me because we wanted to help you, Natsu. Well, at least Happy did. He's the one who put down your bid yesterday while everyone was still watching the stage," she explained guiltily. "I asked Master to help too, and he agreed not to charge you as long as our plan worked."

"This whole fundraiser was a sham?" Gajeel spat in rage. "So I got shafted because of a brat's plan?"

"Don't blame her. You should have bid. You've been playing with Levy long enough," Gray shot back, and no alliance seemed to remain by the snarl the dragon slayer countered with.

"I'm sorry, Gajeel! I-I didn't mean to cause you trouble," the small female whimpered, and the older male recoiled at her tone. Now he was the only looking guilty.

"Wait, so who am I supposed to be going on a date with then?" Natsu asked seriously, just now having figured out what Wendy had planned.

"You'll go?" the little healer responded hopefully, the brightness returning to her visage.

"I guess. Otherwise I'll have to pay, right?" the fire mage rationalized with a shrug. He couldn't honestly be angry with the youngest dragon slayer. When he was that little, he'd done his fair share of stupid things to get what he wanted, and this was far less extreme.

"Oh, thank you! I'm really sorry that I put you in this position," she apologized with a bow, though now she was quaking with glee. "I'll take care of everything! Just talk to Mira-san before you go! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I'm really sorry!"

Wendy then sped off in her quest to plan a date with swiftness none of the men ever knew she had. The fire dragon slayer admittedly considered her to be his little sister and would rather not let her down if possible. She'd lost Grandeeney when she was so young and that fact had caused Natsu to feel a bit more compassion for her over some of the other guild members. He knew how that loss felt and it was easy to relate to her. Still, she hadn't told him…

"Oi, who am I going with?" he enquired again.

Gajeel raised an eyebrow, but it was Gray who replied, "Isn't it obvious?"

Natsu stared, befuddled.

"Lucy, you dumbass!"

Oh.

Ooh.

Ooh.

Crap.

In retrospect, he probably should have found out exactly what he was agreeing to before he'd opened his mouth. Then again, it hadn't been the first time something horribly ironic happened to him for throwing caution to the wind. It wasn't in his nature to be careful anyway. Still, the fact that he'd tried so hard to avoid this situation made this error in judgement all the more disconcerting. Maybe Gajeel and Gray kind of had it right in calling him a moron. Looking at where his brain had gotten him, it wasn't such a far off suggestion. Common sense would have required him to think it through, and yet here he was…

There was also the knowledge that his good friend had had a hand in this. Natsu was rather dismayed at this fact, but he knew Happy was only trying to get the dragon slayer to do something. The two of them had certainly had conversations about his inaction in the past, and nothing had ever come of it. Natsu hadn't done anything—well, maybe besides accidentally express his anxieties about love to his best friend, who also turned out to be the one he was anxious about. Yeah, he shouldn't have done that. It had resulted in the pain he was experiencing now and what would be a painfully awkward predicament in the imminent future. Why was he so bad at keeping things from her?

Actually, why was he so bad at staying away from her?

Of course he would prefer to not avoid her, but under circumstances like today, he really would've liked to stay away. Obviously doing so was no longer an option and he just had to deal with that. He dreaded their next encounter, all the same. The rose-haired mage didn't know what she would say to him. He didn't know what he would say to her. He was still hurt, and he wasn't ready to explain anything if she couldn't understand his anger.

Regardless, he was going to keep his word to Wendy. He might not know a whole lot about that…dating…thing, but he would go and make sure that Lucy had a decent time. Holding a grudge and paying 20 000 jewels wasn't worth it anyway.

The sad thing was, this wasn't the reason he wanted to make this a good experience for his partner. Natsu could certainly keep telling himself that it was—it was much easier than admitting to himself that he still only wanted to make her smile even after she'd hurt him. It was one thing for him to be a scumbag, which he wasn't, and want to return that pain intentionally, and it was another to take the high road and just be okay with what she'd done. He could do neither. To bring himself to hurt her would be like killing a friend; it was simply something that he could never do. To be okay with her action was impossible too. She had to learn that even their friendship had its limits. She couldn't just kiss him like that and expect him to be okay with it.

"Mirajane," he called to the cheerful female standing behind the bar. "Wendy told me to come see you."

Mira smiled, placing a few fingers over her mouth. "Oh, look who's so eager! I won't be prepared for another hour or so."

…Holy Earthland, she was in on this too, wasn't she?

"Now, now, Natsu, there's no need to be so hasty. You should at least tell your date when you're coming to pick her up, right?" the silver-haired female suggested with a wink.

"Uh, sure…" he replied skeptically. The pyromaniac really didn't mix well with this whole dating thing. Why were there so many preparations and people involved? As far as he'd observed, a date was just two people going out to have fun together. He'd had lots of fun with Lucy in the past with just the two of them. Did this really have to be so formal?

Dating is that thing Lucy does. Of course it can't be normal, he nodded to himself as Mira prodded him to go find said girl. Eventually, he did move away from the bar in search of the blonde, but mostly only because his agreement with Wendy prompted him to. Natsu wondered if Lucy was even in the guild quarters right now. He'd definitely been the one to leave yesterday, but that could've easily made her just as angry with him as he was with her. He'd left her there in a less than optimistic atmosphere, after all, and with no real explanation as to why. He still didn't want to explain it to her right now…

"N-Natsu…"

The dragon slayer turned to see that the very person he was supposed to look for had tracked him down instead. Lucy was trying her best to keep eye contact with him and was failing miserably, her eyes meeting his for a second before darting elsewhere and thus beginning a struggling cycle. Her hands were hooked together behind her back, the male could tell, while her feet shifted restlessly.

She was nervous. The celestial spirit mage had never been competent at hiding her emotions, but Natsu was no expert at reading them either. Right now, it was very clear how anxious she was standing there. Maybe…maybe she knew of her wrong…?

"About yesterday…can we talk?" Lucy asked hoarsely. "You…you left so quickly…"

He swallowed. No, she didn't know. She was upset that he left. She was upset that he left. She obviously wanted to know why, and he was still too wounded to tell her.

Anger crept over his body but the skilled fire mage kept his feelings at bay. She was still his best friend—one that he happened to be taking on a date today and one that he wanted to bring happiness to. Not today. He wouldn't break. Maybe he wouldn't be able to treat her as he usually did, but he wasn't going to lash out at her. That incident…had damaged him more than he was willing to admit.

"I left because you proved your point," he answered discreetly, thought it was a complete lie. Lucy had proved a point that day though: love wasn't worth the pain. He was seriously just done with everything to do with that stupid feeling. It had engulfed his life over the last few months and the dragon slayer was just sick of thinking about it. All that sentiment and desire…he just wished it were gone. He wanted to go back to the way it was—back to when he hadn't known about all this. If he'd never discovered how much she meant to him, her assumption might have been right. He might've never cared about that kiss or that embrace. She would've been right.

But this was reality, and she was wrong.

She looked at him, something in her eyes that was perhaps something along the lines of fear. No, that wasn't it. It was…pain, the same as his own. Natsu could see the heartbreak thrumming through her, but he convinced himself that it wasn't true—that those brown eyes were lying to him because it couldn't be heartbreak. He was only a friend to her. He was incapable of damaging something that didn't belong to him.

"Natsu…"

The dragon slayer began to stalk off in another direction, no longer wanting to deal with this. He didn't want to hurt her, if that was what he was doing to her, but needed some time to fix himself before he could try to reconcile their…friendship. The word plagued his thoughts like a leech to skin. How could he have ever hoped for more…?

A small hand pulled him from his reverie as it grasped at his wrist. The fire-eater turned his head back sharply to stare at the girl who was his whole world right now and paused.

The second time he saw that hurt in her eyes, whatever resolve he had to stay away from her crumbled—especially when he saw the tears.

"You're mad, aren't you?" she asked, eyes glistening with that potent emotion.

He was mad, but he didn't want to make her cry. He didn't want to ever see her cry. He wanted her to smile and be happy, despite the torment she had started for him yesterday. Lucy was one of the most important people in his life and it clawed at him even more that he had done this to her.

Comfort, though, was not something he could offer at the moment. He needed to cool off from all the feelings raging in his heart, so he gently pulled his arm away from her and forced his eyes ahead once more.

"I'll see you at one," Natsu told her, walking off and elaborating no further even though she obviously didn't know about what transpired after they'd left. She would find out soon, no doubt, about what was happening. For now, he needed to steel himself for that event.

He, Natsu Dragneel, was going on a date.