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Warning: Spoilers up to Ch. 417
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Drabble Babble
Chapter#4: Changes
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She isn't the same – not really.
He isn't either, but somehow... he just thought that he would come back and everything would be just as he left it. Seeing her, with her hair styled so differently and so much longer, reminds him that it really has been a year.
It's more than that though – more than just physical changes. There is an accusation hiding in her eyes, a bitterness that she tries to paint over with a smile.
He stands in front of her bedroom wall, lost in a dizzying array of string and paper. "What is this?"
He swears he can see any lingering light fade from her eyes as she stares at the map. "I've ... been trying to find everyone."
The hollowness in her voice makes the hairs on his arms stand on end, but it is nothing compared to the chill he feels when he takes a closer look at the jumbled mass of articles and photos. All across the map, in every corner of Fiore, are names. Names of his friends, of his guild members, but he doesn't understand what it means. Not until her voice, soft and full of regret, stabs at his heart.
"The guild disbanded the day after you left."
Suddenly he understands what is so different about her, and he feels his chest tighten painfully in response.
His magic has never been so strong, but in the face of Lucy's forced smiles, he feels his knees go weak. Natsu knows that look. He recognizes the kind of pain that only loneliness can bring. He lived through it every day before he found Fairy Tail. So did Lucy – he could recognize it in her eyes the day they met. He had no doubt that her childhood was as lonely as his, even if she was surrounded by marble and smiling servants.
The day he left is the day he sentenced her to a year alone, but he wouldn't change what he did. He wouldn't have stayed – he couldn't – and he hates himself even more for it.
AN: Just a short drabble that I wrote after reading Ch. 417 that's just been sitting collecting dust. I'm really just feeling 'meh' about it, but I figured posting was better than shoving it in the virtual closet.