Tears welled in her eyes, before an immense wave of rage flooded her, drying them up instantly. She pushed herself away from the table, rattling the water glasses, and stalked up to him, not caring who watched the impending showdown.

Laxus got up and stood a few feet away from her, knowing not to step in.

"What the fuck are you doing here? I thought I told you that you didn't exist anymore, so why the hell are you standing here?" she spat, her voice dangerously low.

"Luce, I-"

"You've lost all right to call me Luce," she snarled. She grabbed his collar and dragged him to a quiet alley nearby. Laxus threw money down on the table to pay for breakfast and rushed after her. He hovered at the entrance of the alley, in case it turned violent and he needed to pull Lucy off of the guy. Lucy, on the other hand, hadn't even noticed him standing there.

"Levy told me you were here, Luce, sorry, Lucy…" Natsu quickly corrected himself. "But please, don't be mad at her. It's just that I was showing up at her house and calling her every day, begging her to tell me. If anything, be mad at me," he pleaded.

She let out a short, clipped laugh, "Natsu. Mad doesn't even begin to cover what I am right now."

"Please Lucy. Give me five minutes, and if you don't want to talk to me after that, I'll understand."

Lucy crossed her arms over her chest, and waited for him to speak. At that moment, Laxus backed away, going and sitting by the dock, still within eyeshot of the alley, but no longer within hearing range. He knew that Lucy would like her privacy.

Back in the alley, Natsu began.

"Lucy, I fucked up. I know I did, and what I did makes me a shitty person. I will never be able to apologise enough, but you need to know that Lisanna," Lucy cringed visibly at her name, "was the worst mistake of my life. I was stressed and angry all the time, and it made me do idiotic things. If I could take it back, Lucy, if I could just erase the entire thing, I would. Everytime I close my eyes I only see your face. Lucy, please. You have to believe me. You have to know how sorry I am! I miss you. I don't know what to do without you. You were- no, you are my world, and I love y-"

Lucy held up her hand, "Don't. Don't say you love me."

"But I do!" he cried. "Please, Lucy. I fucked up, but I need you to forgive me."

"Natsu," her voice was deadly, "you know me. You know that I will forgive a lot, but I won't forgive cheating."

"This isn't about me, is it?" Natsu confronted her, "This is about him! Laxus Dreyer. Why the fuck is he here anyway? Did you move on from me that quickly?" he asked scornfully.

"Don't bring Laxus into this. He is a kind and wonderful man, but, no, Natsu, this isn't about him, and it isn't about you either. This is about me, and how I cannot stand the sight of your face. The idea of us together makes me nauseous. And even if I did take you back, our relationship would be a sham, destined to end, because I can never ever trust you again." She finished, her voice ringing clear and definitive.

Something in Natsu seemed to have clicked. He slumped against the wall in defeat, tears trickling down his face. Lucy felt a pull of pity for the man in front of her. He looked so sad, and he had come all this way, but her pity didn't change how she felt about him.

"Natsu? Tell me one thing. How long were you and that girl together?" Lucy still couldn't bring herself to say the other woman's name.

Natsu contemplated a white lie, but then decided against it. "One month," he whispered.

A fresh set of tears crept into Lucy's eyes, and she nodded. Natsu suddenly dropped to the ground, crouching by his bag and rummaging in it. He pulled out a small box that Lucy immediately recognised to be the one that held the cufflinks.

"I've carried these with me everywhere," he whispered. He then thrust them into Lucy's hands. "Take them back, Lucy. I don't deserve them."

Lucy held her arms up. "No, Natsu…" her voice cracked as tears began to drip down her cheeks.

"Please, Luce." She didn't bother correcting him. "I can't keep these," Natsu said shakily.

"They were made as a gift for you. I'm not going to take them back," she shook her head, refusing to even touch the box.

Natsu tried to dry his face, but it was no use.

"I never gave you anything in return…" he mumbled.

"Natsu… I don't want anything more from you. I just want to be done with this. Please," she sniffled, now feeling a little defeated herself.

As both of them stood in the alley, tears wetting their faces, Lucy realised just how tired she was. Exhaustion coursed through her, and she no longer had the energy for hatred, sadness, or anger. She just wanted this to be over so that she could move on with her life. She put a hand on her ex-boyfriend's shoulder. He didn't meet her eyes, as tears continued to flow down his cheeks.

"I wish you the very best, Natsu. Honestly. I hope you find someone who fulfills you entirely, and I hope you'll be happy." Her voice was soft and kind.

She walked out of the alley without looking back. When she crossed Laxus, she wiped her eyes and said, "I just need some time, okay? But I'll call you." She leaned down and pressed a kiss to his cheek before walking away.

Laxus got up and walked into the alley. He contemplated leaving Natsu alone, but knew that if he ever lost Lucy and then found her kissing someone else, he'd be beyond devastated. Rightly enough, the man was leaning against the wall, his shoulders shuddering as he cried.

"Hey, man," Laxus said hesitantly.

Natsu swiped at his face with the back of his hand and mumbled, "What the fuck do you want? Here to gloat?"

Laxus leaned against the wall across from Natsu, who looked up at him with angry, watery eyes.

"No, not gloat. I'm here to ask how you're doing. Lucy's given me the gist of what went down when you guys broke up, and if you came all the way over here, you must really regret losing her. So I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Well, obviously I'm not o-fucking-kay, Laxus," Natsu sneered. But when he saw that Laxus truly had concern in his face, Natsu calmed down.

"I don't know, man," he continued, running a hand through his hair. "I love her. It's as simple as that. And I fucked up, and every cell in my body wants to take back that mistake. She was the best thing to happen to me, and I threw it away like a fucking idiot."

Laxus didn't say anything.

"How come she's with you now?" Natsu asked, sniffling.

"I was on the island for work and she bumped into me," Laxus didn't bother going into any of the details, and Natsu didn't ask.

Natsu's eyes welled with tears once more, and Laxus's heart went out to him.

Laxus took a deep breath in, stilling himself, before saying, "Listen, man. I am pretty sure I'm falling in love with that girl, and I know I should hate your guts for hurting her. Hell, I should be punching you into the ground right about now. But, because I know what it means to love Lucy, I can maybe begin to understand how shitty you feel right now. Hang around the island. Let me talk to her for you, and convince her to come speak with you again." Laxus's breath caught, and he couldn't believe he was saying any of this. "I know that at one point, you meant a lot to her, so if that means you guys should sit down and have a long chat, I'll try and make it happen," he finished shakily.

Natsu looked up at Laxus, eyes wide with shock. "Wh-what the hell? Why would you do that? I came here to win her back. I'd be taking her away from you."

"Like I said, you meant a lot to her. And while you can't take her away, if she chooses to be with you, then that's something I can't control," Laxus tried to stay nonchalant, but his heart broke at the thought of Lucy leaving him for Natsu.

Natsu looked at his feet and let out a chuckle. "She was right. You're a good guy," he looked up at Laxus. "Look man, Lucy and I finished duking it out, and I don't think she has anything left to say to me, and I have nothing new to say to her. I love her. I will for a long time. But she's made it clear that she wants to have nothing to do with me, and I'm not going to hang around to have my heart ripped to shreds repeatedly. So thank you for your offer, but I'm not going to be taking you up on it."

Natsu picked up the bag that lay on the ground and slung it over his shoulder. He began walking out of the alley, before turning and saying, "I've known Lucy a long time. One day, you may know her better than I do, but currently, I probably know her better than any other person on the planet, with the exception of her father. If I'm being honest, I'm pretty sure she's falling in love with you too, even if she doesn't know it yet." Natsu remembered the way Lucy smiled at Laxus, right before she kissed him - right before Natsu had called her name. He realised that he should have known at that moment that she wasn't going to come back to him.

"Take care of her, Laxus." And with that, he walked out of the alley, and was on the next boat back to the capital.

A/N: This is my favourite chapter of the entire thing! This was the other chapter that popped into my brain, fully formed, soon after I was done with chapter 1. It was so so so important for me to write Laxus and Natsu having a conversation, mainly because I am sick of that toxic masculine aggression where any tumultuous discussion between two men has to begin and/or end in physical violence. I wanted to write two men having a mature conversation about an uncomfortable topic without resorting to using their fists. And I wanted to not necessarily redeem Natsu, but make him someone that other people within the story at least, felt some degree of sympathy for.
Yeah, basically, my favourite chapter. Also, as someone who isn't a fan of conflict, I didn't want to draw this out into a multi-chapter sob fest. Keepin it tight.
Lastly! We're nearing the end! We have about 3 chapters left!
Apologies for the lengthy note!