Author's Note:

Hey guys! Guess what? It's another shorty chapter! Just what you all wanted, right?

Lol, but no, seriously, sorry about this. Thank you all for being so understanding. ❤ It really means a lot to me.

And as always, HUGE thanks to all of my lovely reviewers out there. Big hugs and kisses to: stranger1999, Melga92, Starstruck-MJ, Bugseey, sakshishetty3003, Anna5949, Byrd3-13, Lucinda, valerioux, 52dreamer52, Titania Writes, SistershoOk, Cino2K, Leomae2.0, and NarukoSon. You guys are awesome. :D

Alrighty, well, shall we get on with the show?

For the next two weeks, Lucy had to navigate the Fairy Tail guild without Natsu…. But at least they'd been able to spend the rest of Monday together before he left.

After their intense conversation, he'd stayed in her room for a little while, and then he had run off and retrieved some sort of magical hangover remedy from Cana. It turned out to be a miracle potion which worked wonders for her terrible headache, and within minutes she'd felt a million times better than when she had woken up.

Of course – in true Natsu fashion – as soon as she had started recovering, he dragged her out of her room and to the main hall to find some food.

Normally, that wouldn't have been a problem… but right away, they'd run into Mira at the kitchen bar, and Lucy had immediately tensed with anxiety and wanted to leave when she saw the other woman. It was extremely awkward and uncomfortable being in the same room as Lisanna's sister after everything that had happened. Out of everyone in Fairy Tail, she was the most likely to be holding a grudge against Lucy for being the woman that had displaced her sibling.

Before she could retreat though, Natsu had tugged her right up to the bar, and – to her intense surprise – he hadn't acted any differently around the whitehaired woman. He'd just shot Mira a normal grin and said, "Yo!" as a greeting.

Then he had looked at Lucy and asked, "Aren't ya hungry? Get something to eat already," while elbowing her a little.

Mira had huffed and ignored him completely, but turned to Lucy with a smile and said, "Hey there, Lucy, would you like dinner? I'm sure you must be hungry; you haven't been out to eat in several days. We've all been worried."

That had stunned Lucy, and she'd stammered, "Wha… uh… yes, please… that would be… yes, I am hungry."

"Alright! Coming right up. Tonight, we're having meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and peas. Is that alright?"

"Y-yes… thank you."

Her discomfort must have been fairly obvious, because Mira had paused, cocked her head, and asked, "By any chance, are you worried that I'm angry with you?"

Lucy had somewhat hesitantly responded with, "Um… well, yes… of course I am. Aren't you?"

"Not at all! I don't blame you for what happened. That was completely Natsu's fault, not yours."

Her voice and eyes had been so sincere that Lucy hadn't been able to do anything other than believe her… as extraordinary as it seemed. However, as relieved as that made Lucy, she felt horrible for Natsu. Lisanna's elder sister was obviously still angry at him – and had even shot a glare his way when she said that it was his fault.

He had gone noticeably quiet after that and did not said a word as they took Lucy's dinner to a table where they could sit and eat. She hadn't known what to say to lighten his spirits – or if it was better to not say anything at all – and for the first few minutes, there had been awkward silence at their table.

Luckily, it hadn't been long before others started stopping by to say hello and chat, which had helped him to cheer back up to his normal self again. As for her though, it had been a little difficult to fully enjoy everyone's company… at least until she'd finally realized that everyone really was acting normally around her. Cana had been right, and nobody treated her any differently than they had before the enormous blowout over Natsu's breakup with Lisanna.

A few people had teased them about being out in public together and asked if they really were dating now – which had been extremely awkward – but it hadn't triggered Natsu in any way. He'd just laughed at them and essentially responded with various versions of 'yes.' Naturally, that had resulted in even more teasing as well as congratulations, and overall, it had been a fairly fun and positive experience… if also a little embarrassing.

However, just like earlier, Natsu definitely had not reacted well whenever Lisanna was brought up. He always shut down immediately, and the one time that someone actually asked him a question about his now ex-girlfriend, he'd harshly snapped at them in a way that was obviously intended to shut them up.

Thanks to that, it hadn't taken Lucy long to figure out that he apparently handled emotional pain by first withdrawing and then by lashing out angrily if he was pushed or triggered further.

At first, she'd been worried that a fight might break out, but thankfully his friends hadn't forced the issue. After a few small incidents, they quit bringing up Lisanna at all… and once that happened, everything had been happy and friendly as they all chatted and horsed around.

…

It was just sad that that was the last time she saw him before he left on his new mission. He told her goodbye later that night and then set out on his trip the next morning without stopping by the guildhall… which had left Lucy to her own devises.

In the end, that had turned out alright though. Continuing to meet and get to know everyone in the guild – and finding where she fit in with them – were fun distractions.

Partway through the first week, she'd met and made friends with Wendy – the young sky-mage apparently working as the guild's official healer – and Wendy had introduced her to Carla and Happy. Lucy had been very interested and surprised to see that the young-looking man and woman had animal ears and tails, and they had explained to her that they were from a race of people called Exceeds, who possessed animal qualities and special magic. Both of them happened to be cat-type Exceeds, but they'd told her that there were all kinds.

Happy had been really fascinated by her as well, once he'd learned that she was Natsu's new girlfriend. After that, the blue-haired young man had stuck to her like glue and pelted her with tons of questions about Natsu's mission, how they'd met, and what had happened after.

Luckily, there seemed to be an unspoken rule not to ask people about their back story here at Fairy Tail, so she hadn't had any trouble with anyone asking anything too personal. Some of Happy's questions had been a little prying, but he'd never pushed too hard when she evaded something… and mostly he just seemed interested in information about her and Natsu. While she was careful to steer away from certain topics – such as her identity and some of the things she'd been through –she otherwise freely told him whatever he wanted to know.

It was obvious why he and Natsu were such good friends… Happy had a similar cheerful, free, and honest type of personality. After talking with the bluenette so much, she quickly grew very comfortable around him and could easily see herself becoming close friends with him herself.

Likewise, she also spent a great deal of time getting to know Wendy and Carla – partly due to the fact that Happy spent a large amount of time with the white-haired Exceed. It was obvious from the first time she saw them together, that Happy had the largest possible crush on Carla, and it was equally clear that she was a tad standoffish towards him. Actually, Carla seemed ever so slightly imperious and snobbish, if polite, and Wendy was the only person that she regularly showed affection towards. Those two were quite close, though it certainly seemed to be a matter of 'opposites attract.'

Where Carla was slightly cold, Wendy was warm and kindhearted to an almost unbelievable degree, and Lucy got along much better with her. She became a friend almost more quickly than Happy, and Lucy imagined that very few people would be able to dislike the sweet healer.

But her growing list of new friends and acquaintances didn't stop at those three. Aside from the healer and exceeds, she had also met Warren, who was apparently a telepath and managed a lacrima-phone service just for Fairy Tail members. One day they'd gotten into an interesting conversation about how Fairy Tail had a lot of 'honorary members' who made up a massive network keeping Fairy Tail informed – not only on the status of kingdoms on their watch-list, but also about any other potential missions. It was amazing that just one man was able to manage such a wide-spread communication network all on his own. Cross-kingdom lacrima-phone services usually required a lot of man-power, magic power, and expensive resources to run.

And he wasn't the only person that told her interesting things about Fairy Tail. Everyone had something fascinating to tell her, either about themselves or about their guild, and she thoroughly enjoyed talking to them all. She quickly got the feeling that they didn't get many new people actually coming to live at the guildhall – like she'd done – and they all seemed equally as excited to get to know her as she was towards them.

That had also extended to Elfman… who Lucy had been as nervous around as Mira when she'd found out he was Lisanna's older brother.

They'd ended up meeting early on in the week – which had been highly uncomfortable for Lucy – but thankfully, he felt the same way as his older sister. When the topic inevitably came up, he had said, "Natsu did something stupid, but you and Lisanna didn't do anything wrong. A REAL man doesn't take his anger out on innocent people."

.… And once again, she was left feeling horrible for Natsu, but relieved for herself.

However, even though neither sibling showed any sign of being angry at her, she couldn't help but be a little on edge around them for a while. Mainly, that was because she still hadn't completely forgiven herself for the part she'd played in breaking their sister's heart, and she knew it would take some time before she could talk to them and not feel guilty.

It hadn't helped when she'd heard through the grapevine that Lisanna had even gone so far as to move out of the guildhall and back into her family home with Mira and Elfman across town. She could only imagine what the other woman was going through right now…. Thanks to their misunderstanding, she'd experienced a small taste of what it was like to lose Natsu, but it must be a hundred times worse for someone who had loved him for years like Lisanna. Being told that he didn't love her back had to have crushed her.

The whole idea of it was painful to even consider… so Lucy did her best not to think about it.

Luckily, there were plenty of activities to distract herself with, and one of the best was spending plenty of time with her nose buried in books alongside Levy. Unsurprisingly, she and the bluenette had grown increasingly closer as they continued to bond over their love of literature. Her new friend had even invited Lucy into her room at the guild… which had turned out to be a truly amazing experience. All of the walls in Levy's room were completely lined with bookshelves from floor to ceiling, and Lucy had felt like she was in a dream.

The bluenette bookworm was definitely someone that Lucy could imagine becoming one of her best friends in the guild – alongside Happy, Wendy, Cana… and a certain red-head and ice mage.

She'd spent enough time with Erza and Gray during the first week to determine that they seemed like people she could become very close to as well.

Erza was intense and intimidating, and she turned out to have a lot of strange quirks… some of which Lucy experienced first-hand, and some she heard about from other people. The redhead was apparently obsessed with sweets, extremely competitive, dangerous when drunk, and used a version of 'tough love' that sometimes hurt a great deal. However, she was also obviously an exceptionally kind and caring person, and she had welcomed Lucy warmly.

As for Natsu's best frenemy, Gray, it didn't take her too long to figure out one reason why they apparently got into so many fights… they had the exact same temper. He could explode at the drop of a hat and get into a full-on brawl within seconds; and he let it go just as easily afterwards. Unfortunately, that was also where Lucy tended to have trouble with him, thanks to his strange habit of stripping whenever he got riled up.

But other than that, he turned out to be good company, and she grew to enjoy his laid-back personality and sarcastic sense of humor. It was interesting how he was the opposite of Natsu in so many ways… while her boyfriend was fiery, friendly, and energetic, the ice mage possessed a relaxed demeanor that bordered on withdrawn, uninterested, and even cold at times. He definitely had more social awareness than Natsu and obviously chose his words more carefully – but that didn't always mean that he was more polite, since his sharp wit and tongue often came off as snarky (if not downright rude.) She got the distinct feeling that it took him a loooong time to fully come out of his shell for someone; but even so, just a week was enough for him to loosen up a little around her.

Being around Gray had also introduced her to his extremely possessive girlfriend, Juvia, who had made it very clear that Gray was hers right off the bat.

When they first met, the blue-haired woman had immediately stated, "Darling Gray is Juvia's! Keep your hands off him!" without any sort of prompting.

Her tone and the crazy look in her eyes had made it obvious that Juvia was one or two screws short of a full clock… and to make matters worse, the bluenette clearly saw her as a threat. Of course, Lucy didn't blame Juvia for being suspicious – considering that she'd already stolen one Fairy Tail woman's boyfriend – but she also really didn't want to have that sort of trust-issue with anyone in the guild. However, there was no doubt in her mind that she and Juvia would have a problem unless she made it extremely clear that she wanted nothing to do with Gray… except maybe be friends if he could keep his clothes on.

Luckily – thanks to years of dealing with demanding social situations – she had immediately been able to come up with a plan. She'd met Juvia's intense stare head on, and bluntly said, "I'll keep my hands off of Gray, and you keep your hands off of Natsu. Deal?"

It had felt strange to talk like that, but Juvia seemed like a very dangerous person to have as a potential enemy. Plus, she'd felt it was important to make sure that everyone knew she wasn't the kind of girl who went after other women's boyfriends for the fun of it.

Thankfully, her strategy had worked. After a few long seconds of intense eye contact, Juvia had asked, "So you're in love with Natsu? And don't want anyone else?"

That had been a perfect opening for Lucy, and even though it'd made her blush bright red, she hadn't hesitated to answer, "Exactly. Natsu is my darling, and I'm not interested in anybody else."

She had thought that using Juvia's words would help get her point across, and it definitely seemed to make a difference. As soon as she made her declaration of love for Natsu, Juvia had visibly relaxed.

After that, they'd gotten along just fine, and the bluenette had become another of Lucy's new friends. She turned out to be a wonderful, kind, sweet, and considerate person – as long as nobody was trying to take Gray away from her or hurt him in any way.

In fact, when Gray had left on a mission with Erza at the beginning of the second week, Juvia had gotten lonely and despondent; and Lucy had invited the bluenette to spend time with her and Levy to take her mind off of it. She'd also suggested reading a book as a distraction, and Levy had had the brilliant idea of introducing Juvia to romance novels, which the bluenette had taken to like a fish to water.

Out of curiosity, Lucy had tried one of the love stories as well… but as soon as she reached the first love scene, she'd gotten queasy and had to put it away.

That little incident had triggered a new concern that she hadn't thought of before…. How in the world was she supposed to date Natsu and have a physical relationship with him if she couldn't even read a love scene without getting squeamish?

Of course, she was beyond excited to be with him – especially after everything they'd gone through. It was like a dream come true, and she spent a lot of her time daydreaming about when he would return. She imagined them going on dates, talking for hours, and even kissing… but whenever her imagination drifted towards anything even slightly racy, her mind locked up.

It was a little nerve-wracking, but she just hoped that Natsu would be okay with taking things slowly enough for her to adjust to everything. She wasn't actually scared of doing anything with him, because she was absolutely positive that he would stop if she said stop… but she wasn't necessarily looking forward to all of the awkward and uncomfortable moments that they would probably end up having.

Still, even with that new anxiety, she couldn't wait for him to come back so they could start being a couple – awkward moments and all.

Sneak Peek

Nobody bothered to try and stop him till he got to the palace gate – and the guards there only got bent outta shape when they saw him coming right at them.

All four stepped in front of the gate, and one yelled, "Identify yourself! Stop! Halt!"

"Yeah right," he laughed loudly as he reached them and kicked the middle guard through the gate.

He followed the guy through and kept going while the rest of them started freaking out behind him. That was when the alarm was sounded, and by the time he got to the castle, a shit ton of soldiers had lined up in front of the big entrance doors.

He didn't even stop…. he just shouted, "Get outta the way unless you wanna get roasted!" as he barreled towards them.

Post Note:

Alrighty, it looks like we've got some fire and destruction on our hands coming up next chapter. ;D

And as always, I'll try to answer any questions you may have in the reviews, so feel free to hit me up.