Chapter 1

"Wait!" The young girl's voice echoed in the hallway of the apartment building, desperation ringing in its call. "Stay! Please. You have to stay." She shook, begging for his dark, retreating form. She fell forward to embrace him from behind, although it wan't a comforting gesture so much as a way to stop him from moving.

He gently unpeeled her tightly woven fingers from around his waist. "Lucy, it's okay."

She gave him a fear-stricken look. Her eyes were wide and glazed in fright, eyebrows forced down towards each other, creating a rigid crease, and mouth parted as she sucked in a breath and shakily let it out.

He shifted and again started to walk towards the brown door.

"Wait!" she shouted, grabbing his hand. "Wait, wait, wait, wait. You can't do this. I need you! You have to stay, " she repeated. A twisted knot formed in her stomach. She could feel her heart thudding in her chest. She needed him to stay just a little longer. Just to wait. She needed more time with him until he left her all alone.

"Lucy. You will be okay. We'll see each other at school. You are going to be fine."

Okay. You will be okay. How many times had she attempted to tell herself the very same thing and seen it fail as she repeated it over and over? The words meant nothing in this state. "You will be okay," she parroted experimentally. "You will be okay," she muttered. "You will be okay. You will be okay. You will be okay!" With each reiteration her gasps grew more and more unnatural, and her pitch rose higher and higher. Her throat was tight and constricted. She wrapped her arms around her frame. Before her was him, the door, and blurry surroundings. She couldn't talk.

He watched her, undecided whether to leave. With a somber expression, he reached for the doorknob.

With a somewhat animalistic noise and sudden superhuman strength neither of them knew she had, she thrust him backwards, clinging as tightly as she could.

However, his fingers had already grasped the brass doorknob, and Magnolia beheld the two teens crumpled on the floor. "You alright?" Gray asked.

"Mmm," Lucy whined.

Accepting the answer, Gray stood up, disentangling himself from her limbs.

Panic seized her, an icy freezing chill shooting into her, and she clutched his hand before he left. "Stop!"

People glanced over curiously. Lucy flushed red with shame. "Stay here with me," she said to Gray, staring at the many scars on his fingers. Briefly she wondered where he got them all.

"I'm going, Lucy." He drew his hand away.

"No!" She looked outside. "I don't want you too," she said very conscious of the people who could possibly hear her.

"Push past this. You'll regret it if you continue," Gray said. Lucy's mind flashed to other moments when she was late for practice and she had flipped out. She'd regret it then, but not now. This was different. She needed him to stay longer. Small tears that had formed long ago trickled down her face.

"I won't!" She said with a sort of strangled cry. She wanted to scream, but without the security of the closed door, she couldn't. Lucy shifted past him and closed the door, facing him, arms outstretched to the sides of the frame, looking like a cornered animal. "Gray, " Lucy whispered. "Just stay. Please. I can't do this. I just..." She clutched his chest as words left her. Her arms trembled.

"Lucy, just let go." She didn't move. He paused, thinking. "Look, Lucy I really don't think you want to do this. But I'm going to stay a little longer if you want, okay?"

Her mind screamed yes, but she froze in place, guilt taking over. She knew she was going to say yes eventually, but she needed to at least think about him leaving. The ground was a blob of color as she looked down. She gnawed at her lip. It started to bleed. She wiped her nose on her sleeve as fresh tears ran. Her throat hurt a little. She didn't know what to do. She stood there, motionless and mute, just stare holes at the floor.

"Lucy? I'm going to stay. Just say you want me to stay. Nod? Anything?"

She wanted to say something, but she couldn't. A weight pressed her mouth shut, glued with hot tears that spilled freely down her chin. She could at least nod, but she didn't. She never knew what stopped her, but she remained, looking down.

"Do you want me to leave?" Gray asked, trying to get her out of her closed-off shell.

Lucy briefly looked up. Her face was blotchy and wet, and her eyes were shining with tears, worry, and fear.

He made a move towards the door.

"No! I don't want you to! Please, just don't do it." Her hand was outstretched in front of him.

"You're sure?"

Lucy nodded. She searched in herself for regret of any kind. Guilt still nettled at her, but it was replaced by relief that wasn't hard to mask with her shaking hands and tear-stained face. Gray sat down on a couch down the hall. She followed. She sat with her legs crossed. She examined her hands and wiped her nose again, not feeling like getting up. Her blonde hair covered her face in a mini curtain. They sat there for little while in silence. Occasionally Lucy glanced at him through the curtain. She clenched her jaw until it hurt, bit the soft inside of her cheek. She started scratching her arm until it was red and raw.

"Lucy." Gray took her wrists. "Stop."

She tried to gain back control of her limbs. He held fast, then reluctantly let her hands drop to the couch. She rubbed her upper arms and linked her hands together.

"How are you going to get through college like this?"

College. She wouldn't. She'd be alone, and she wouldn't be able to buy food, and she'd be all alone. She wouldn't know anyone there. She couldn't. Her breaths came faster, each one trying to race against the next. She needed air! She kept breathing, and as each one was let out all she could think was she couldn't breathe! She needed more air. They came faster and faster. She couldn't focus.

"Hey, Lucy. Deep breaths, okay?" Gray grabbed her hand, and she gripped it.

She tried, but each time she let out all her air, she needed more and fast. She thought about college again and a fresh bout of panic seized her. Her vision was fuzzy. She kept a vice-like hold on Gray's hand. Her breathing slowed. She tried to talk, but it set off a new succession of gasps. Lucy loosened her grip on Gray's hand. "I'm good." He looked at her. "I'm good," she repeated trying to sound confident.

"I'll go make some soup." He looked concerned and maybe a little shaken.

"I'm not sick," she murmured, looking down at her lap.

He gave a humorless laugh. "Yes, you are."

A/N

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail

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