AN:

Hello everyone, hope your all having a good day. Sorry, this is slightly late, I ate something that didn't quite agree with me and have been feeling sick most of the day. I woke up and was like O..O omg its 8pm i have to finish that chappy! D:

Anyways I hope you guys enjoy! Tell me what you think of the job Lucy managed to land.

Natsu blushed a little staring at the ceiling, he hadn't been able to sleep all night. Thinking of the beautiful hallucination he'd had that cause him to go out searching for hours. 'She looked so real…' he thought recalling the events of yesterday. If his friends weren't worried about him before they sure were now.

Natsu laughed looking at Gray and Erza. Watching as Erza pulled his friend into a headlock for back talking to her then she innocently hopped into the water slamming headlock Gray face first into the water.

From the corner of his peripheral vision Natsu notices the bushes moving a little, his jaw dropped, seeing a well sculpted back facing him, and long blonde hair dripping down to her waist. Natsu stares for a second longer unable to move as the figure vanished within the brush. Natsu swiftly shoved his fishing pole to another friend beside him, "HEY?!" he heard his cousin shout after him as he raced off.

Natsu grabbed at his bangs rubbing the hair between his thumb and index fingers, closing his eyes tightly at the memory, "I'm so dumb." He muttered rolling over onto his side. The open window providing him a gorgeous view of the impending sun that crept into the sky from beyond the horizon. He stared deeply at the dazzling water that seemed to sparkle a little as it reflected the slight sunrise, 'It couldn't have been her.' He told himself with a frown, the memory of a strange young clueless blonde invading his mind once again.

~oooOOOooo~

"Find your mystery girl Flame Brain?" Gray asked as Natsu finally stepped out of his room, thick dark bags under his eyes due to lack of sleep.

Natsu's eyebrow twitched, "Oh, fuck off Ice Queen Elsa." He snapped ignoring all the stares and Gray's snappy reply to what he'd called him as he walked to his fridge to grab a container of orange juice and downing more than half of it in one long sip. He knew they were worried, but he wished they'd stop looking at him like that! He could still hear their voices from yesterday… they thought he was crazy and who knows he probably is going crazy.

Natsu put the carton back into the fridge, closing the door with a soft clap before walking out onto the sandy beach remembering the girl and the promise he'd made so long ago.

Natsu grinned widely at their work of art as they buried his father in the sand making him into a sand Mermaid while he laid unconscious on the beach. Natsu rocked forward grabbing his small feet embarrassed as he his beaming grin grew, "Luce, can we be friends forever?"

Natsu frown… what had happened to that? Despite the promise, he'd yet to see her since that moment. There had always been moments… small flicking moments where he'd thought he had seen a glimpse of her, but time and time again he came to find he was wrong.

Natsu sighed, 'Why can't I get that girl outta my head anyway?' he wondered curiously. It never failed even throughout the years! When he'd see someone that even somewhat resembled her, he'd have to stop and do a double take to see if it was indeed her or not. To his dissatisfaction… it never was. It was something that irritated Lisanna about him because he'd always think he was checking out other girls.

Natsu frowned as heartbroken as he was about Lisanna he couldn't bring himself to be too upset about it for some reason. Out of the whole situation, the only thing that bothered him truly was the betray and being lied to. If she had merely told him that she was unhappy he would have broken it off with her. It wouldn't have hurt him much… They could have still been friends! Maybe they still could be? But not right now… the wound was fresh, and he felt bitter from feeling like he'd been conned.

Their relationship was just a deal anyways… A means to forget… He had honestly tried to forget, but had she he wondered? Considering the one she cheated on him with was the very man she'd been trying so hard to forget… probably not but then matters of the heart were strange maybe she just wasn't ready to move on, 'Maybe that's why I keep seeing her too?'

~oooOOOooo~

Lucy was regretting this already… She'd gotten herself a job alright, but she wasn't sure this was the best of ideas. "Don't worry darling all you have to do is dance!" her manager told her pointing at the stage with a pole on it. The woman was drooling at her in the skimpy outfit she'd shoved her into. The only thing that made her feel safer about this was the guards posted at either end of the stage in case the crowd of people got too rowdy.

Lucy shifted from one foot to the other not use to high-heels quite yet. Her manager telling her the things were a requirement. Lucy nervously watched the girls from the sidelines beyond the curtain. The small club was filled with sweaty overly horny men some well-dressed others still smudged in grease and within their work clothes. She saw a few women here and there, some other the girls not on stage were either doing what the manager called lap-dances or dancing for a private party on top of a big round table.

Her face blushes a bright red as she watched the lap-dance and for a moment the two vanished and she sees herself and Natsu instead. She turned away quickly rushing back to the back room where the manager had gotten her 'ready' to get some much-needed air. At the mental sight of that… Her body had experienced a strange heat that was currently driving her crazy. "You alright honey?" her manager who'd followed her asked.

Lucy nodded lamely with a lopsided smile, "Y-Yeah, just a bit overwhelmed." She offers up her best answer.

~oooOOOooo~

Natsu sat laid out at the bar of a bar, his friends trying their best to bring him out of whatever funk he was in. It wasn't that he was in a funk… it's just that he was wondering where Luce was right now. It wasn't his fault that hours and hours seemed to pass by so quickly or that his friends would try to talk to him, but he was too busy wondering to even notice… right?

He'd been taking shots that had been given to him left and right ordered by his friends. Mira and Erza remaining sober to not only act as drivers but as punishment, for the last time the two had gone out drinking together. When a girl walked up to Natsu tapping him on the back after his third or fourth shot the two women watched the interaction with mild interest.

Natsu turned his face a bit reddened by the number of alcoholic beverages he'd drank in so little time, "Hellzo dare buttiful rady!" he answered with a hiccup as he waved at her childishly despite her being so close. His two sober female friends chuckled, from the table not far from the bar sipping on sodas while they made sure their friends stayed in control of themselves.

(Drunk translation: "Hello their beautiful lady!")

"Aw, you're so sweet!" The girl started a smile on her face as she cozy's up to Natsu trying to sit on his lap. "I have a proposition for you!" she continued as she leaned towards his ear her hidden hand wandering suggestively, "My cars in the back." She tells him seductively.

Before Mira could get up to intervene Natsu gently pushes the girl off his lap turning away from her and to the bartender ordering another drink, "Dou fay be pwitty hod rady, bwut Lucy tiz huch hoder." He told the girl as the bartender went to hand him a drink.

(Drunk translation: "You may be pretty hot lady, but Lucy is much hotter.")

The girl snatched the drink and throw it on Natsu instead with a glare, "Asshole!" she yelled marching away while Gray and Gajeel turned into a laughing mess over the whole event.

~oooOOOooo~

Lucy was blushing madly by the time her shift was over, but she had to admit the job wasn't that bad aside from the googly eyes watching your every move and the take home wasn't that bad either. Or at least she was pretty sure one thousand two hundred was decent working wages… She understood the words and had a bit of knowledge of how to count out the bills thanks to her excursions to the human world in the past, but she still had yet to quite grasp why these slips of paper were worth so much.

The manager hadn't been kidding when she said that once she took the stage it would come easier. She'd been a bit scared when the men all seemed to go wild when she started, some people even had to be pulled off the barricaded stage in front of her. Walking down the darkened streets she noticed a deafening calm about it the seemed eerily dangerous. She shrugged it off heading to the hotel her manager directed her to after telling her she didn't have a place to stay.

The building she noticed with the dull lighting was a mess, painted on with strange words and marking. The door looked like a cage she realizes as she opens it and enters almost walking passed the man behind the counter, "Can I help you?" he asked as he stared at her dully his voice chilling.

Lucy released a smile as she turned to him, "H-Hi my manager said I could find a place to stay here for the night." She informed him. Shivering when his eyes onced over her, "One night?" he questioned turning back to his computer. She nodded, "That'll be a hundred bucks." He continued holding out his hand towards her.

Lucy nodded grabbing the folded paper from her pocket, pulling out what if she remembered right was a hundred-dollar bill. He nodded putting the money into a machine that made a ringing sound before turning to a wall that held a bunch of keys. He grabbed one and turned back to her, "Return them before 1 pm tomorrow. If you would like to extend your stay merely come by and speak to me." He explained.

With a nod Lucy took the keys, "You'll be lookin for room 17."