As promised, I rewrote this chapter. The simple explanation to this is: before writing this I had never read or written fanfic and had an incorrect idea on how it was supposed to be, therefore now I that know a little more about it, I decided to make some additions. Which doesn't mean this is going to be perfect, apparently rewriting without changing the idea is more complicated that what I anticipated -_-…
Feedback is still well received! Please read and review, and let me know if there are some pointers or things you would like to see.
Remember Italic usually means internal dialogue or Flashbacks
-A-
It was a normal day in the guild, or as normal as it could be; the request board was filled, and more than a few mages were already surrounding it, thinking about their next mission. As usual, it was all but a quiet place, a few tables were flying around, different mages daring each other to ridiculous competitions, and more than a couple of punches were being delivered left and right.
Gray had already removed his shirt when a redhead beauty with a strong temper shout at him; "Gray your clothes!" Her strong voice resonated wall to wall causing Gray to flinch. "This is getting out of control! You need punishment!"
"Dammit! When did this happen?" obviously his intention was to put his shirt back on, however, this proved to be more difficult than what he initially thought.
"I said put your clothes on! Didn't say to take more off!"
"WHAT! DAMMIT!"
The guild was filled with its every day noises, it was weird how you could feel so at home in such a rowdy place. It was the beginning of September, and the weather was perfect; a breeze covered the town with the sweet scent of the forest.
Cana was sitting at her usual table observing as Erza scolded Gray for his inappropriate stripping habit, and trying to contain her laughter. Seeing Gray shiver under Erza's commanding hand always made her laugh.
She looked around her family, the one she decided to join after her mother died. Cana arrived at the guild at a young age looking for her father, but eventually decided to stay; she used Holder Magic mostly based on her magic cards, which she always kept with her along with a huge barrel of booze.
Everyone believed she was hardheaded and careless since she had a common habit of drinking, and flirting; little did everyone know that she was also one of the most observant members of the guild, whether the information she obtained was used to tease her friends or for other purposes depended on the type of information. She could always tell when the winds were changing for her guild family, and today she sensed the September breeze would bring more than a few surprises.
A noise from the front door caught her attention causing her to peek through the narrow semi-open space. What she saw immediately spiked her interest. It was not uncommon to see guild members fighting each other, but this was not like any of the regular brawls; this seemed more as a personal argument, and fists were not involved for once.
She recognize the pink haired mage frowning at someone whom she was not able to see through the small space; she saw a pale small hand reaching out to coup his cheek, and him slapping it away; it was obvious that he had startled himself by doing so, since he took a step back.
He put himself together and slammed the door open, storming into the guild; He had fie in his eyes and directed his step to the request board, he grabbed the first piece of paper he could catch, and as quickly as he came in, he was gone.
He stump his way out of the guild ignoring his friends voices, and went through the door slamming it again, making his way out of the guild with the same anger and determination as before, which revealed the victim of his tantrum. Cana could clearly see Lucy covering her mouth with her right hand and holding her arm with her left; this was an uncommon event. While Natsu could be dense, and somewhat insensitive, everyone knew he protected Lucy with his life; the mere thought of him being the reason of Lucy's tears rubbed Cana in the wrong way.
Cana felt the urge to go outside to comfort Lucy, but decided that right now she probably needed the space and didn't want to make her uncomfortable. She was also worried about Natsu; she had seen fire in his eyes before every fight, but not like the one she had seen for the past few weeks; it seems the fire grew a bit darker every time. She remembered asking him about it, and getting no particular answer.
-Flashback-
"Are you gonna tell me what's been bothering you?"
"Nothing's bothering me; anyways, if it was why would I tell you?"
"Hey! That was hard…"
"Ugh… I'm sorry Cana. It's just…"
"Yeah?"
"It's nothing… ok? I just… I've been having trouble sleeping, that's all"
"You? Come on, I've seen you sleep over a rock, and underneath a table"
He laughed a bit at her comment, then, he flashed his huge grin at her. She saw the dark fire on his eyes evaporate into nothing "Yeah, you are right. It's nothing, I promise. Why are you so worried all of the sudden? Do I need to make Mira cut you off?"
"Try to take my booze away Natsu… see what happens…"
He raised his hands in defeat "Woo… Relax. Man… you can't take a joke"
Lucy's POV
"Could you please keep it down?! Not everyone needs to know how ridiculous you're being about this"
"What…I'm being ridiculous? Great! So you don't care about the fact I'm asking you not to go? You haven't seen this guy for years Luce! What do you even know about him?"
"What is it to you anyways? I can go wherever I want, whenever I want and I don't need you to come with me"
He felt the fire accumulating on the pit of this stomach "Oh you don't! Well apparently that doesn't apply whenever you need to pay rent, does it?!"
"Are you being serious right now? Most of the missions we go to leave less money because of your wreckage! You could at least learn some self-control!"
"Look we ain't having this argument Luce. I don't like him, so, if you go, I'm going with you, and that's final. Last time I checked I didn't need your permission to go wherever I wanted to go either"
"Come on! You are being a child! You don't like him? You don't even know him! For once in your life could you act like an adult? GEEZ! Just leave me alone for once! It will probably serve me well to have vacations from you!"
Natsu's face harden and his eyes moved to the door; the anger inside him was pilling up without him fully understanding why. He was aware that the fire in the pit of his stomach was becoming dangerously hot, and was trying his best to control it, however, controlling his mouth was a different issue "I know what you talk about with him; I know you talk about me. Is that really how you see me?"
"Wait now you are listening to my personal conversations? How about some privacy Natsu?"
"Ha! You can't fool a Dragon Slayer's senses, or maybe it's because I'm…wait how did you call it?… oh yeah "an incontrollable mess that needs a leash, incapable of committing to something and so dense that couldn't see the truth even if it slap me on the face" or something like that…"
Lucy's eyes widen in panic, she recognized those words as her own and had regretted them the moment they left her mouth. This had happened no more than a week before, when they had to relinquish all their reward to cover a few collapsed buildings. She raised her hand to cup his cheek "Natsu, I'm..." the sudden slap on her hand threw her off; while she had received her fair share of beating as a consequences of Natsu's brawls with others, this was the only time he had purposely laid a hand on her in an aggravated way.
She stood frozen in the same place rubbing her hand, as she watch him storm inside the guild, only to come back no more than a minute later with a paper on his hand. Without looking at her he walked passed her and just mumbled, "Do whatever the fuck you want, I don't give a shit"
Lucy couldn't hold the tears once he left, she rested her forehead on the wall trying hard not to surrender to the sadness; after a few minutes, she put her hair behind her ears and took a deep breath. She couldn't let the rest see her like that, so, she cleaned the tears from her face and walked as calmly as she could into the guild, no one seemed to notice what had happened, and for once she was happy the guild was such a noisy place.
Not long after, Happy flew inside the guild with a very sad face, landing on her breasts as usual.
"Lucy!" There were tears running down his small blue face and sticking to his whiskers.
"What's wrong buddy?"
"Natsu didn't want to take me with him! He was so mean!"
"Oh Happy, I'm sure he'll get over himself soon. Did he say something to you?" She really wanted to believe he would get over it quickly, and give her an opportunity to explain.
"He…he said he preferred to be alone for this one. He told me I couldn't come" Lucy tried to smile hiding her own sadness and padded Happy to make him feel better, although petting his fur was more of a comfort to her.
"So I guess it will just be you and me?"
"Well that sucks…"
"HEY!"
"I'm sorry! It's just not the same without Natsu!"
"I know buddy… How about I buy you all the fish you want? We can even go fishing! How about that? Lucy knew how to draw a smile in the small cat's face. She knew it wouldn't distract him for long but it would serve as a temporary solution.
"YEAHH! I have my fishing gear ready at home! When do you want to go?"
"Well, we could go now"
"Ok but first I need to get some lunch!"
"Amm… Happy aren't we fishing our lunch?"
"But Lucy! I need energy to fish! You are so dumb… You can't fish on an empty stomach"
Lucy rolled her eyes but decided to play along; after all, she wanted him to stop thinking about Natsu, at least for now.
"Fine, fine" she waved her hand disregarding her annoyance "Mira! Could you please give the Fish addict something to eat? And can I have a strawberry milkshake?"
"Coming right up Lucy!"
A few minutes had passed; Happy was enjoying his third Fish at Lucy's expense, while she was playing with the straw from her almost untouched milkshake. She was trying so hard to let things be, but found herself incapable of holding her tongue. She attempted to ask in a nonchalant way, but was of course very unsuccessful.
"So…" She laid her elbows on the bar and rested her face on her hands "Did your annoying friend mentioned how long he would be away?" Happy looked at her with disappointment not knowing how to answer her question and shook his head.
Of course, Mira joined the conversation; that woman had always had an ability to pop in at the right time. Lucy commonly teased her about her gossiping and matchmaking obsession, but she knew if Mira ever wanted to blackmail someone at the guild, they would all be in trouble "Well Natsu being Natsu will probably not be away for long, but the only one missing from the board is a three month gig"
Their jaws landed on the table causing a thud "WHAAAAAAT?! He can't possibly be away for that long! What is wrong in that stupid pink head of his?!" Lucy was feeling upset, but also guilty. She had never been without him for such a long time, and although she was mad at him, she was aware it hadn't been all his fault. -Well then I guess that's that, there's no clearer answer for me now…-
At the end, Happy was too full to go fishing, which of course Lucy had warned him about, but it didn't matter, she had succeeded in taking his mind away from his best friend who had left him behind.
Lucy went home to continue working on her novel, she took a long bath, and she cried a bit more before going to bed. Hours later, she was awaken when she felt something slam against her face "What the hell!?"
"Lushy! Wake up!"
"Stupid cat! Why do you keep breaking in!?"
"Luuuuushy you are being mean! You said we could go fishing!"
"Like… now?..."
"Yeah…now"
She reluctantly got off bed almost growling, and changed her pajamas for a pair of blue shorts and a tank top. She had never been a huge fan of fishing despite of joining Natsu and Happy several times, and most times she went only for their company.
After walking for some time, they got to their usual fishing spot and sat down; it didn't take long for Happy to break the silence that had settled between them.
"Do you think he is angry at me Lucy?"
"Oh come on! Why would he be angry at you?"
"Well, I stole his food the other day, maybe he doesn't want me to live with him anymore"
"Listen! He is not angry at you and he would never kick you out, you silly cat!"
"Are you sure? He's been acting weird lately…"
"Weird how?"
"Well, I'm not sure how to explain… Like the little things that annoyed him now upset him, ya know? I thought he was impatient, but now…"
"Yeah…"
"Also he keeps waking up in the middle of the night, sometimes screaming, and goes outside for hours!"
"Where does he go?"
"Not sure…"
"Well… he is being weird"
"You are being weird… but then again you are always weird Lushy…" Happy covered his mouth with his paw trying to hide his laughter without much luck, before Lucy put her hand in the water and soaked him with a swift move.
The days went by slowly and painfully for both of them; every time the guild door opened, they would turn with hope just to see it was somebody else.
Of all the people Lucy had ever met, Natsu was the one that had never disappointer her; he acted like a child most of the time, and she had unofficially taken the responsibility of "babysitting" him, however, she had never felt disappointment when talking about him; this particular emotion was something she knew well thanks to her father.
She thought that after all the times Jude had put his work before his family, the Phantom Lord incident, and him trying to marry her into another wealthy family… disappointment would be something she would be able to disregard easily, as it turns out, she would soon realize how wrong she was.
After three weeks, it was evident he wasn't coming back any time soon. More than a few members of the guild had started discussing how weird it was that he hadn't taken Lucy, but they were even more shocked by the fact that Happy was left behind; since Happy hatched they couldn't think of a time in which those two were separated for more than a couple of days.
Cana was bored and more than a bit drunk after an intense drinking competition with the Master when she approached a sad looking Lucy at the bar.
"Hey Blondie! So when is that douchebag partner of yours gonna be back?" she could tell right away she had stroke a cord there when Lucy's eyes watered, and that kind of made her sober up a bit.
"Hey Luce, I'm sorry, are you ok?"
"I'm fine Cana…"
"That I'm fine sounds as fake as me saying I'll stop drinking tomorrow… Look, I didn't want to say anything; I noticed you too had been fighting a bit lately, what happened?"
"I just, I think I pushed the wrong button this time Cana, he was right to be mad, I just didn't think he would be this mad you know?"
Cana nodded but was still clueless about what had happened, she didn't want to push her into a conversation she wasn't ready to have "I'm sure he will have a clear mind once he comes back Luce, don't worry too much" Lucy gave her a "debutant" smile that didn't reach her eyes.
"I'm going home now to work on my novel; we'll talk later ok?"
"Sure thing… Hey Lucy, I'm here if you need me ok?"
"Thanks…" Lucy grabbed her bag and walked out of the guild leaving Cana with a bad feeling; she knew something was not right, but was incapable of pinpointing it. Gajeel sat down next to Cana drinking a large beer and simply asked, "So you want to know what happened between Salamander and Blondie here?"
"Well well, who would have thought you were one to gossip… I though you like to keep away from people's businesses Gajeel"
"I do, but the day is incredibly boring and I could have a few FREE beers Cana"
Cana smiled and yelled quickly "Mira can we have two beers? And please keep them coming!"
Mira nodded politely handing them their two beers before returning to her conversation with Laxus.
Gajeel took a big drink before starting the conversation "Why do you care what's happening between them anyways? I'm sure they'll patch things up as soon as he comes back"
"I'm not sure why… it just seems odd, you know?"
"Well, I could only hear part of it; after all I don't pay much attention to those weirdos. I know he was pretty angry at her for talking to someone about him, he probably overreacted, but it ain't his fault either; honestly he is going through a hard stage right now"
Cana looked a bit more confused now, and stayed quiet to let him continue…
Gajeel sighed, "It's not the fight that is the real problem, all Dragons go through this incontrollable stage, basically like every other teenager you know but with a Dragon nature, the instincts get sharper and more often take the best of you"
"How so?"
"Hmm I guess you get more protective of your space, you start noticing more things, and of course your senses go in overdrive"
"Is that why he got all weird around her?"
"Not sure; I don't know the details, but she wanted to go back home and see this guy friend; and Salamander basically forbade her to, so things didn't go smoothly there"
Cana's confused face was even more noticeable know, Lucy had mentioned it was her fault but this sounded like Natsu acting like a dick "ok let's back off a little here, what do you mean with incontrollable dragon teenager, you Iron moron? Do we need to be worried about him? He is incontrollable already, so if it gets worse than now we may have to start saving to reconstruct the guild for the millionth time"
Gajeel laughed loudly, "Oh it gets worse…oh man you don't know half of it Drunkard. At least I'm glad I went through it way before I came here, you guys wouldn't let me forget about it"
"So… you mean this is the "more relaxed" version of you?"
"Of course, by the time I came here I was already very much in control of it"
The thought of Gajeel being worse than what he was now crossed Cana's mind and sent shivers down her spine –How much worse can he get?- "Ok so just to be clear… when you were in Phantom and destroyed our guild… were you…?"
"Oh nah, that was even before that"
"Seriously… what did you do?"
Gajeel smirked at her jokingly "There's not enough beer in this town for me to tell you Cana… wouldn't want to damage the good rep I've accumulated during my time here. I'm just going to say this will be fun to watch"
Lucy sat on her desk trying to write, but she was still bumped about the whole situation; it was hard enough to concentrate without the constant image of Natsu popping in her mind every 5 minutes.
Phone rings…
"Hey Lulu! So have you thought about it? Please say you'll visit? I can't wait to see you!"
She recognized the voice right away; Fukuro was someone she had recently reconnected with, and she had fond memories from their childhood together. His and Lucy's parents would usually do business together which left the kids plenty of time to roam around the properties and play; she remembered him as a sweet boy with a shy smile. Lucy being as high temper as she was, would usually push him around to different adventures knowing the scared little boy would never refuse her; he was all grown up and doing most of the pushing now.
"Hey… Fuku-kun, I'm not sure yet, my partner took a long mission and I…"
A very annoyed Fukuro cut Lucy off, "Lu!, come on! You can't seriously wait for that good for nothing to come back; you said yourself he acts like a child and keeps being confusing about everything, why on earth would you prefer to wait?"
"I know what I said, but he is not like that! He is extremely loyal, and protective, and he is so… I mean…"
"Lulu do you have feelings for him?"
"What? No of course I don't!"
"Then why are you so worried about him? He's been gone for weeks now! Is not like he cared about hurting you when he left did he?"
"I guess you are right… (blushed), but he is my guild partner and my best friend!"
"Fine, so if he is really your best friend, that won't change right? So what damage could a short trip do?"
Lucy let the words get in her head and ignored the nod building in the pit of her stomach. She was mad at herself, but also mad at his childish behavior, and decided staying would only reaffirm the wrong behavior on her best friend.
"Fine, I'll see you soon then"
"Oh Lulu! You won't regret this! I can't wait to see you again; I've missed you so much"
"I've missed you too…"
With newfound determination, Lucy decided to pack a few bags; she wasn't planning for the trip to be long anyways. She was folding her clothes when she was invaded by the feeling that she was forgetting something.
"Hmmm… ok… Toothbrush, hairbrush, underwear, shorts, skirt, pants, blouses… Gee.. I may be packing too much…" She switched her weight and bit her thumb thinking what could she be missing when the image of the small blue cat came to her mind "Shit!..." She didn't want to leave Happy by himself.
Happy hadn't taken his friend's departure well, Lucy and the rest of the guild tried hard to keep him company, and distract him as much as possible, but it was just not the same without Natsu. Things had gotten so bad that even Carla threw away her snob behavior to keep him company in activities she usually deemed childish and worthless, the bigger surprise was that she didn't complain a bit about them.
As if being summoned, the feline flew inside her apartment. "Hey Lucy, what's for dinner?"
"Silly, you know I have fresh fish for you today, just as yesterday, and the day before"
"Aye! You are the best!"
Happy settled on the table to wait for his food patiently (not…) "Stop tapping your little paw on the table! I'm coming!"
"But you are so slow!"
"Do you want to go to bed with an empty stomach?"
"You are so mean Lucy!" the blonde giggled before placing his plate on the table. "there, there… so, what did you do today?"
"Not much… The guild is boring without Natsu"
"I wouldn't call it boring, maybe… less noisy? They sure fight less"
"Uhm, Lucy you are so dumb! That's exactly why it's boring… even Gray is bored…"
"Oh really? Why do you say that?"
"He tried to pick a fight with some of the guys today"
"Hmm, how did that end up?"
Happy tried to cover his smile with his tiny paw "Well the guys mostly ignored him, so then he thought it would be a good idea to pick a fight with Erza…"
"Oh poor Gray… so boredom did get the best of him"
"Aye… may he rest in peace" Lucy immediately frown "Oh Happy don't say that!" The cat smiled again "Hey! How about we take a short vacation before Natsu comes back?"
"I don't know… what if he comes back while we are gone?"
Her own concern filtered through her mind as she recognized the thought, but that went away quickly once her determination kicked back in "Well Happy, he didn't think much about us when he left did he?"
"I… I want to stay"
"You can stay if you prefer but I'm leaving in the morning. I don't want you to stay alone, what about you stay with Wendy and Carla?"
A smile immediately appeared on his face, Lucy knew he would take any opportunity to be around the white cat, and now that she was trying to be nicer to him, it was the perfect opportunity.
"Aye!"
It was settled, the next day she would be back home to visit. She knew the house she grew up in wasn't hers anymore, it had been taken over along with her father's company, but she still was excited about going back and seeing it from the distance.
