"Are you ok?" the voice asked.

Lucy was too shocked and scared to answer or even look up.

"Are you lost? I know the hospital pretty well and I can help you out if you need me too" He said after a few seconds without a respond from the blond girl.

"Hey, you there?" He asked and shook her a little, making her wake up from her shocked state.

"O-oh, yeah! Umm...S-sorry, I'm sleepy" Lucy answered with an awkward laugh.

"Come on, I'll take you to your room" He said with a laugh and pulled her with him.

Lucy didn't dare to look up, not even to see what's in front of her on the way.

After a few minutes of walking and Lucy pointing the man to her room, they got there and he let her go.

"Okay, go sleep and rest well" He said and turned to leave.

"WAIT!" Lucy suddenly yelled and looked at the man.

He was taller than her, had black hair and looked shocked, probably from her screaming.

"Oh... Sorry, just wanted to say thank you" Lucy smiled with a hint of saddens hidden in her smile and voice.

"No problem at all" The man smiled.

"My father is staying here so I might see you again..." He added.

"Lucy, and I'm leaving tomorrow so..." Lucy replied with an apologetic smile.

"Lucy, ok. My name is Zeref by the way. Happy to hear you are being discharged" The man, Zeref, said with a smile.

"Thank you" Lucy replied with a soft smile back.

"Well, it was nice meeting you! Stay safe!" Zeref said with a wave.

"You too!" Lucy waved back.

A few seconds after Zeref started walking away and just before Lucy got fully into the room, Zeref turned around and called her.

"Hey, if you see a salmon-haired boy tomorrow, tell him I came to visit dad too late and that's why he didn't see me" He said.

"I will if I see him, what's his name though?" Lucy asked, not really thinking about what Zeref just described, she knew she will probably forget without a name.

"Natsu" Zeref answered with a nod and a smile, then left.

Lucy stood outside her room for a long time, trying to comprehend what she just heard.

After what felt like an hour, she snapped out of her trance. "I'm hearing things, this stupid dream is messing with my mind" She told herself and went in to sleep.


"Darling, wake up" Lucy felt a nudge on her shoulder.

"5 more minutes please" Lucy mumbled and turned the over way.

"Honey, you need to get up" Lucy heard and grunted.

"But it's Saturday" Lucy said with a pout.

"It is, but today you are coming home" She heard them say.

"I'm being discharged!" She exclaimed and got up to the bathroom to freshen up, leaving her parents laughing.

"We will go get the papers ready, we'll come get you when it's all ready" Lucy heard her father say, then heard the door open and shut.

Lucy got ready in 5 minutes, wearing what her mother brought her to change to from the hospital gown.

"Natsu!" Lucy suddenly remembered and ran out of her room.

"Where was it?" Lucy asked herself as she ran to the rehabilitation section to try and find the room she saw Zeref walk out from.

Lucy saw a nurse coming out of a room and ran to her to ask where the room is.

"Nurse! Hey, can you please help me? I'm looking for my friend and his father's room" Lucy asked her.

"Name?" She asked with a smile.

"Natsu" Lucy replied.

"I need a last name to help you sweetie" The nurse said with a soft smile.

"O-oh... Dragneel?" Lucy asked and face-palmed. 'There's no way that they have the exact same name Lucy!' She thought.

"Room 177" The nurse answered and walked away with a smile.

'What?' Lucy asked with wide eyes.

"Thank you!" Lucy said, then remembered she had no time and ran to the room.


When she got there, the door was slightly open so she tried to peek in to no avail, Lucy couldn't see or hear anything.

After a few minutes of fighting with herself she decided to knock. 'Whatever happens, happens' she told herself.

"Come in" She heard a rough voice say.

Lucy came in and looked at the rather old man on the bed and smiled politely, noticing the missing arm but tried to ignore it.

"Hello there, young lady! I'm more than happy to see such a cute girl but I think you have the wrong room" The man laughed lightly.

"W-well, umm... Are you Igneel by any chance?" Lucy asked with hope.

"Yes, I am. Do I know you?" Igneel replied with wide eyes, then it hit him. 'She looks just like Layla' He thought to himself.

"Well, no. I know your sons though!" Lucy replied with a smile.

"Oh! Well then, if you were looking for either of them, they both aren't here at the moment" He replied with a soft smile.

"I see, well, Zeref asked me to do a favor but I guess I can't do it" Lucy replied with a light laugh and disappointment laced in her voice.

"You can stay here and wait for them if you want" Igneel offered with a grin that Lucy knew so well from Natsu of her dreams.

"I can't actually. I'm being discharged soon and I really need to go" Lucy replied with a light blush.

"I see, congratulations first of all, and second, may I somehow help with the favor?" He asked.

"Just, Tell Na-" Lucy was cut from the door swinging wide open and loud laughs suddenly were heard.

"Oh! Well! My two sons came together just in time!" Igneel laughed as he saw the two boys laugh with food in their hands.

"Oh! Lucy, right? Nice to see you again" Zeref said as he noticed the shocked blond.

"Natsu?" Igneel asked as he looked at his younger son go into silent mode all of a sudden.

"Na-Nat-N" Lucy mumbled as she looked at the pink haired boy as he was locking eyes with her.

"Luce..." Natsu whispered, still in silent mode.

"Ooohhh! That's her! Zeref, that's her!" Igneel whisper-yelled to his oldest as he mentioned him to come closer to him.

"His girlfriend?" Zeref whispered back and he looked between the two teens.

"Not yet" Igneel replied as he too looked between them to see what will unfold.

A few minutes went by, both teens still not moving and Igneel and Zeref waiting patiently for them to regain some kind of consciousness.

"Lucy! Where are you?!" Igneel heard yells from outside the room and told Zeref to call them in, since he knew the voices and connected the dots quite fast.

And he was right.

And soon enough Layla and Jude joined Igneel and Zeref as they waited for the teens to do something, anything at all.


"Ok, this won't work" Layla said and got up to nudge her daughter after 15 minutes.

"Natsu!" Lucy yelled as soon as her mother touched her, making her mother and everyone else in the room jump, and making Natsu turn his silent mode off.

"Lucy!" Natsu replied out of reflex.

"HI!" Lucy yelled for some reason.

"HEY!" Natsu yelled back.

The scene was too funny for the adults, who began to laugh, making the teens turn and notice what accrued while they were out.

"Mom? Dad?" Lucy asked with a confused look.

"Yes sweetheart?" Jude replied with a smile.

"What.. Umm... What?" Lucy asked while blinking a few times.

"We go way back with Igneel and his wife, Grandine. Where is she by the way?" Layla replied and asked Igneel, who was laughing on his bed.

"At work most likely, she comes around lunch time usually" Zeref replied while his father kept laughing.

"Oh, I haven't seen her in ages! We must meet up as soon as you all can!" Layla said with a smile.

"We will try our best to make it happen soon" Igneel replied with a light laugh and a glance at his arm, making both Layla and Jude smile sadly back.

"You should just take the money I offered" Jude said with a sigh.

"I told you, depends on how long this thing takes" Igneel replied with a pat on Jude's back.

While the adults talked, no one noticed the two teens who sneaked out of the room to talk more privately.

"So..." Natsu said and rubbed his head.

"I... Well... We... Zeref asked me to tell you that he came by yesterday pretty late and that's why you didn't see him" Lucy blurred out fast but Natsu still caught it all.

"Oh, thanks" He replied with a slight blush forming on his cheeks.

"And, I wanted to say... I wanted... umm... Thanks... For umm... Being there... And umm... Yeah..." Lucy mumbled with a blush.

"Ye-yeah, a-anytime" Natsu stuttered back.

"So... We go to umm... To the same school?" Lucy asked while looking at the ground.

"Yeah, not the same classes though" Natsu replied looking anywhere but at Lucy.

"O-oh, that's why I didn't know you probably" Lucy replied with a light laugh.

Lucy remembered quite well why she probably didn't know him.

She was the "rich kid" and that somehow meant she was arrogant and rude and a bitch all in all.

She didn't have friends in school, she always buries herself in books and stays alone most of the time since no one wants to try to get to know her.

"Wait, how old are you?" Lucy suddenly asked, making Natsu blush again.

"17, same as you" Natsu replied and rubbed the back of his head.

"Oh, okay" Lucy replied with a smile.

"Listen, I know you usually don't talk to others in school, but my friends and I would love you to join our group! After we heard what happened to you from Loke and Aries we all got really worried and we all visited you at first until exam season got in the way. I don't care much for them so I still kept on coming" Natsu rambled as he felt the conversation is going to end.

"Oh! Okay? Sure, yeah, I see, okay" Lucy replied, still processing all the information that was thrown at her.

"So, yeah, cool" Natsu nodded and went into room.

Lucy nodded and went in too.

The adults kept talking, not even noticing the teens had left and came back.

"Uh... Can we go?" Lucy asked after a few minutes.

"Oh! Of course, dear" Layla replied with a smile.

"Will you join us for dinner then?" Jude asked Natsu, making both him and Lucy open their eyes wide in shock.

"Of course you will!" Igneel answered for him.

"DAD!" Natsu yelled at his now laughing father.

"You don't want too?" much to Natsu's shock, Lucy asked that.

"O-oh, you want me to?" Natsu asked, trying to sound slick, making his father and brother laugh slightly.

"I-I don't care, just wo-would be nice to have a f-friend over" Lucy stuttered, making Natsu smirk internally and think of how cute she looks when she's so flustered.

"I will then" Natsu replied more confident now.

"See you later then, goodbye everyone!" Jude said and waved with Layla and Lucy as he left the room.

"Goodbye" the trio replied and waved back.

"Nice move bro" Zeref said and patted Natsu's back.

"Yeah, real smooth" Igneel replied laughing.

"Shut up old man" Natsu replied then started to laugh with him.