Summary: Spoilers for Chapter 538 from the Manga. Lucy and Happy finally find Natsu but not the way they were expecting….
Pairings: implied general family feels within the guild, implied Gajeel/Levy, implied Gray/Juvia, implied Jellal/Erza, Levy/Lucy friendship, Cana/Lucy friendship, Happy/Lucy friendship, Happy/Natsu friendship, implied brotherly Zeref/Natsu, implied Zeref/Mavis, and, as always, Natsu/Lucy.
YouTube Prompt: A tribute to Lucy and her year apart from the guild and how much she missed them to 'Unity' by Shinedown.
They never do find Natsu.
They had searched everywhere. Not a single stone in Magnolia remained unturned and they couldn't find a single trace of him anywhere. It was almost as if he had never existed.
At first the whole guild put every effort in trying to find him.
They scouted every town, every village, every mountain, and every forest for a sighting of Natsu. Their allies kept their eyes peeled and their ears open for news and missing posters plastered every smooth surface in the country.
It became apparent though that he wasn't physically anywhere and they moved their search to a more mystical level.
Levy researched like mad, Cana poured over her tarot cards, and Lucy had all of her spirits searching and querying on other worldly plains.
Nothing.
Eventually, grudgingly, the guild started to stop searching for Natsu and started living their own lives.
Gajeel and Levy got married, Gray and Juvia moved in together, Wendy finally developed breasts and had a trail of admirers that needed warning off, and Jellal was pardoned and beginning his own awkward courtship with Erza.
Everyone was moving on and living apart from Lucy and Happy.
Because Lucy and Happy couldn't just give up.
They were a team with a missing piece and they couldn't be content until they were whole again.
"You got to start living Lu-Chan!" Levy cried out worriedly. "You look like a ghost. I can't bear the thought of you sitting alone, not eating properly, not writing, not, well, doing anything. When was the last time you gone on an adventure?"
Lucy flinched at that.
Her last words to Natsu had been about going on an adventure.
The thought of going on one without him hurt badly as if she had been stabbed in the heart with a scalding hot knife.
"I can't…." she said weakly, pathetically, "not without Natsu…"
"Natsu wouldn't want you to stop living," Cana said firmly, "the best way to honour him is to go out and have some fun."
All the other girls had made noises of agreement and after a great deal of persuading, cajoling, coaxing, and outright threatening, Lucy finally agreed to go on a quest to find Aquarius' key.
She hadn't been able to bring herself to look for it when Natsu could turn up on her doorstep any moment needing to be fed.
But she had to now accept the fact that he might never show up on her doorstep again.
She will never come home to find that he had invaded her bed and left dirt all over her carpet again.
She was never going to lose her temper with him again either.
Lucy prepared to leave Magnolia for a long, gruelling, quest and was surprised to find, bright and early the next morning that Happy was waiting for her at the town line.
"I lost Natsu already," he said with watery, big, eyes, "I can't lose you too, Lushy! Please!" he pleaded with the smallest of pouts. "You're the only family I got left. Don't leave me too!"
How could she ever say no to that?
Lucy sighed heavily as she picked Happy up and held him close. "Oh Happy!" she murmured as she nuzzled his soft blue fur. "As if I could ever leave you behind."
And so they set off for their new, bright, adventure.
Lucy hadn't not been looking for Aquarius all of this time. Everywhere she went looking for Natsu she had also looked for Aquarius. She had come to the conclusion that Aquarius' key was definitely not in this country and therefore she would need to charter a boat to take her somewhere else.
And so they ended up in Hargeon, where it had all began so long ago.
Lucy felt her breath catch in her throat as she took in the familiar sight of the cobbled streets. This was where she had met Natsu the very first time, this was where she learnt of his ability to eat her out of house and pocket, this was where he saved her for the very first time, where he held her hand for the first time, when he smiled at her, really smiled, for the first time, and where they started their adventure.
She could almost see him right now, grinning like a lunatic as he accidently destroyed something in his enthusiasm to beat up the bad guys.
She could see his pink hair as clear as day, his white scarf fluttering in the wind, and those stupid, stupid, sandals making loud smacking sounds against the floor.
It was so realistic…
….so very realistic….
"Lucy…." Happy breathed out in wonder. "It's…."
"I know!" Lucy whispered ecstatically. "I know!" and then before she could even think she was moving towards the pink haired Dragon Slayer that stood before them, laughing carelessly at some joke someone told him. "Natsu!" she cried out. "Natsu!"
"NATSUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"
Natsu barely turned round when Lucy suddenly collided into him. Her head buried itself into his chest while her arms entwined themselves round his waist and squeezed him tightly. She barely had a chance to breathe in his warm, spicy, scent when Happy suddenly collided into the back of her head and then had the sheer nerve to jump between them and snuggle into Natsu's shoulder.
"Natsu!" Happy wailed. "I missed you so much! Lucy has been so boring without you!"
Lucy pulled back properly to retort but just as she opened her mouth she caught sight of Natsu's bewildered, slightly nervous, smile. "Yo," he said weakly, "it's nice to meet you too."
She staggered away at that. It was as if she had been slapped by a fish or something as horror bolted through her body. "N-N-Natsu?" she stammered out nervously.
Natsu blinked. "Have we met before?" he asked. He lifted a hand and scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "Sorry, I'm not very good with names."
"Natsu!" Happy said miserably as he pulled away. "Don't you remember me?"
"Oh my God!" Natsu jumped. "You're an actual talking cat! Awesome!"
Happy teared up at that and Lucy couldn't blame him. She was fighting back the urge to breakdown and cry too.
All these months and months, searching for him, missing him, hoping for him, and now they were all so very wasted as he stared back at them as if they were strangers.
"Natsu!" Happy stomped a foot childishly. "If this is a joke. It's not very funny!"
"No joke," Natsu said confused, "I really don't have any idea who you people are. Maybe you got me mixed up with some other Natsu?"
"There is no other Natsu," Lucy said quietly, "there is only you. You're the strongest, most powerful, bravest man I know and you're also loudest, most obnoxious, pain in the arse I have ever had the misfortune of ever meeting. I wouldn't have you any other way."
"Look Miss," Natsu shifted nervously and Lucy's heart panged at him being so damn polite, "and awesome talking cat, you both seem very nice people, if way too weird, but I'm really not the guy you're looking for."
"Natsu!" Happy cried out distraught. "Do you really not remember us? Do you not remember Gray and Erza and Wendy and Charle and Master and Laxus and Mira and Lisanna and all the others from the guild? We're you're family. We fought bad guys, and demons, and dragons together. We've saved the world together. We're Fairy Tail."
"Fairy Tail?!" Natsu repeated. "Now I know you got the wrong guy. I'm not a mage. I don't have any magic."
"Of course you have magic!" Lucy snapped. "You're a Dragon Slayer. You've had magic since you were a little boy when the Fire Dragon Igneel raised you."
"A dragon raised me?!" Natsu raised a disbelievingly eyebrow while his lips quirked into an amused smile which was both another stab in the heart – how could Natsu forget Igneel of all people?! – And extremely irritating. Lucy had a distinct feeling he was laughing at her. "Definitely got the wrong guy. I was brought up by my brother and sister in law."
He gestured down at the street and Lucy's eyes widened as she caught sight of a familiar dark head and an equally familiar, curly, blonde head resting on the dark haired man's shoulder.
….how was that even possible?!
Lucy would be more shocked but she quickly remembered all the other impossible things that had happened to her in the past few years and it quickly subsided.
Without a second thought she reached out and brushed Natsu's cheek with her fingers. It was lukewarm, like a human's, and had none of the burning heat that Natsu's skin used to hold from all of his magic.
He truly wasn't a Dragon Slayer anymore.
"Erm…." Natsu said hesitatingly as his eyes dropped down to stare at her fingers, "….what are you doing exactly?"
"Oh!" Lucy hastily pulled her hand away and flushed with embarrassment. "Sorry…I erm…ah…."
"She liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiikes you!" Happy trilled out.
"Really?" Natsu grinned goofily as Lucy spluttered incoherently. "I like her too. Even if she is a massive weirdo."
Lucy's heart squeezed at that and before she could stop herself, before she could even think, she blurted out the words;
"Want to go on an adventure with me?"
Natsu tilted his head curiously. "What kind of adventure?" he asked.
"A long one," Lucy replied, "a dangerous one."
"Lucy's lost her yummy fish key," Happy explained, "it's a very powerful spirit and we're going to search the world to find it."
"She's a mermaid not a fish!" Lucy retorted instinctively. "I'm a Celestial Mage, I have the power to summon spirits with specials keys," she explained quickly as Natsu looked even more confused as ever, "and I'm on a quest to find one of my spirits. We've been separated. It's going to be a long journey," she babbled, "I don't know where to start looking or if I'm even going to find her, and you might have better things to do, you might think I'm some crazy lady, but you once took me on an adventure of a lifetime and it's time I did the same for you. Will you come?"
There was a long, painful, silence and Lucy found herself holding her breath in anticipation as Natsu stared at her and Happy thoughtfully.
"There's something about you," he mumbled, "something familiar, something right…." Lucy's heart raced at that and halted to an aching stop when Natsu suddenly turned away. "OI! ZEREF!" he bellowed loudly for the whole world to hear. "I'M GOING ON A QUEST! DON'T WAIT UP FOR ME! I HAVE NO IDEA WHEN I'LL BE HOME!"
Lucy choked on a laugh as she saw Zeref splutter at that. Mavis, however, turned round with a mischievous sparkle in her eyes as she waved goodbye to Natsu.
And with that Natsu turned back to face her with his biggest, brightest, cheekiest Dragneel grin and Lucy couldn't help but beam back as she heard Happy half laugh, half cry at the sight of it all.
"Go on then," Natsu held his hand out to her, "take me on an adventure."
She slipped her fingers through his own and squeezed tightly. For a moment, a brief, split second, she felt his squeeze her hand back.
And then together they ran down the streets of Hargeon towards the docks laughing like little children.
Lucy's spirits soared as she found herself at the very beginning of a whole new story.
She couldn't wait to continue it.