Lucy leans against Natsu. The class seems wary of him, but she's not sure why. She took notes as the teacher spoke but was only paying partial attention. She was much more interested in how any of this made sense. She struggled to wrap her head around how, and why Natsu seemed to wipe away years of grief. She never came to a reasonable conclusion and was still wandering when the bell rang.

Lucy Begins cleaning up, looking at Natsu as she does. Suddenly a thought crosses her mind, "We don't have the same class for second." she's brought to focus as Levy comes up to her and Natsu.

"Lucy, we need to get to English. Do you remember how to get there?", Levy asks quickly, flipping through a notebook at the same time.

Lucy puts a hand to her chin appearing to think hard." No clue." she says at length.

Levy nods, " I expected as much", she says jotting something in her book. " I'll take you there". She turns to Natsu, " see you at lunch ." she finishes, turning and grabbing Lucy's hand.

Levy begins to walk away But is brought up short by Lucy. "Can't I stay with Natsu?" Lucy whines. She slumps slightly and gives Levy a pouty look.

Levy looks torn for a second. She looks over to Natsu who is quite purposefully studying an apple. She sighs and says," Natsu what's your second period.

Natsu looks away from his apple and says sheepishly," It's uh… Science."

Levy sighs again, "that's in the same direction. Natsu do you mind walking us to class?" she looks down and shifts from one foot to the other.

Natsu rubs the back of his neck flushing slightly." Of course I will. As long as you don't mind, that is.", He says avoiding eye contact.

Levy shakes her head and says, " of course I don't mind dumbass. Why else would I have asked?"

Natsu shrugs. Lucy grabs his hand and looks up into his eyes. He feels a smile tug at his lips and starts leading the way out of the room. Levy follows him and Lucy a scowl on her face. She did not like quite how close Lucy already seemed to be to Natsu. She Still did not trust him around her.

Lucy walked, her fingers intertwined with Natsu's. She felt safe when in contact with him, like all her fear and pain just didn't exist. She didn't want to part with him for that very reason. She worried that if he left her she would be overcome with those feelings again. For now she was safe, but what if that changed?

As they walk Students stare after them. Lucy giggles and gets closer to Natsu as the staring eyes follow them. They reach the English room and Lucy hesitates to release her grip on Natsu's hand.

"Lucy we gotta leave Natsu here, ok?" Levy says gently, placing her hand on Lucy's arm.

Lucy pouts but lets go of Natsu. She turns to follow Levy through the door. She looks back to see Natsu Waving with a big grin on his face. She felt reassured and more than a little attracted. She steps into the room.

Lucy first feels cold seep into her bones as she crosses the threshold. She feels the whispers creeping into her mind. Unconsciously she reaches up to her neck. Her fingers brush thick quilted fabric. Natsu's scarf, until now she'd forgotten it was around her neck. She raises the fabric to her face and inhales. Natsu's scent fills her senses. The whispers quiet and the cold lessens. She'd found a lifeline to Natsu, a way to stay with him even if they were apart.

-Natsu-

Natsu lingers outside the English classroom for a moment after saying goodbye to Lucy. He finally turns and begins walking to his class. He wears a scowl once more and the students part for him like the red sea. His evident displeasure stems from an unease he can't quite identify. There is a sense of needing to do something, but no clue what it was. He sighed as he turned into the science room.

The room is full of students, all of which retreat to the opposite side of the room at his arrival. As Natsu takes his seat a students detaches themself from the crowd to stand in front of his desk. It's a girl Natsu doesn't recognize, she's relatively tall and quite slender, her hair falls down her back like a curtain of fire, but most noticable is the malice and aggression in her eyes.

She stands before him, her left leg stuck out a slit in her ruby dress, one hand on her hip the other twirling some of her hair. She leans down planting her elbows on the table. Natsu looks into her eyes before speaking.

" I don't think i've seen you here before." Natsu pauses weighing his options. " What is your business with me, and how in the heck did you get that dress past dress code?" he's uneasy, she obviously isn't friendly and he didn't like having to fight a girl no matter how crazy she evidently was.

She tilts her head and smiles before speaking, " So you're the new big boy around here." she chuckles and raises her arms from the desk. " My business is simple, my employer wants your little institution shut down, and he'll do anything to make it happen." she reaches down the front of her dress and pulls out a small piece of paper. She places on the desk.

It's a picture of Lucy and him from less than an hour ago. It was obviously taken from outside the window and was a little blurry as if it had been taken from a great distance. She walks around beside him and leans over close to his ear.

" You wouldn't want anything to happen to that little piece of arm candy, now would you?" she asks in a pouty sing song. She chuckles again.

Natsu sits stunned for a second before pure protective rage races through his veins. He reaches up and grabs her under the chin. She yelps as he rises and pulls her in to face him. He lifts her off her feet and growls out a sentence, " Touch her and I will end all you care for why you watch from a pool of your own blood."

She claws at his hand but can't break his iron grip on her jaw. He squeezes and tears flood her eyes as a soft crackling sound is heard through the silent air. Natsu's eyes go from a fiery rage to subtle fear and he throws her to the ground. She cries and holds her face. Natsu sits and faces away from her. He is sickened by his anger but knows it was justified, but he still didn't like it.

The whole classroom releases a collective breath and a couple students collect the girl from the floor and escort her from the room. Everyone thinks they just saw the guy running the criminal underground beat down some slut. Nobody heard what either one actually said, but news spread very quickly.

As Natsu walked down the hall to lunch he heard people talking. News of his encounter with the red haired girl had already spread, but as usual was greatly warped. The story's ranged widely, the most popular one didn't seem terrible, but wasn't good either. It went that he was really loyal to his girl and that some two bit gold digger had tried to sway him to cheat, but she miscalculated and sent him into a rage. The details were wrong but he gist was the same, except they also said he'd beaten her savagely and repeatedly for five minutes. Natsu sighs as he enters the cafeteria, coming face to face with a different redhead.

Erza stood glaring at him. Natsu faltered briefly, but stood straight and looked her in the eye. He recalled Gajeel's words, she was the only thing keeping this place civil before us, and figured this was about the redhead.

" what can I do for you mis?," he asks sincerely,hoping this is about something else. He nearly winces when she replies.

" You, Natsu Dragneel, have gone much too far. I'm here to stop your malicious acts." she drops her left leg back and shifts her weight subtly.

Natsu can see the tiny movements, and knows she's about to attack and exactly how. She starts moving, her left foot speeding toward his head. It never makes contact because his hand is already there. He catches her by the heel and tugs her off balance. She begins to fall but catches herself and spins out of his grasp coming up in a crouch.

Natsu can't help but smile, " this chick is good" he thinks as he settles into a stance. " I'm pretty hungry so please hurry", he says tauntingly,"maybe I'm spending too much time around Gajeel" he thinks.

She lunges again dropping low to sweep his leg. He raises it and stamps down grazing the heel of her shoe. She stands and swings a haymaker with her left. He steps into the punch and catches her at the elbow, squeezing. She kicks up into his crotch but his other hand once again catches her leg.

They stand like that for a second until Erza breaks the silence. " it seems we are at an impasse. I cannot hit you in this position and I don't believe you can either". She says in a growl.

Natsu tilts his head and says, " no I don't believe we are." he then lifts her into the air, she struggles, futily as he lifts her above his head. He stops and speaks again.

" If you promise to hear me out I'll put you down." he speaks loud enough for only her to hear.

She grits her teeth and nods. " I promise to listen, but I don't promise to believe or indulge you."

He lowers her to the ground. She backs up a step and glares at him. He walks past her toward the serving counter and says softly follow me I'll explain everything I can".

Natsu and Erza sit across from each other, Natsu stares blankly at Erza who wears a look of deep contemplation. Finally Erza breaks the silence, " Is all of this true? and don't lie, i'll know if this answer is false."

Natsu takes a deep breath and speaks, "yes". Erza blinks at him and hen rises,nods, and leaves. Natsu is left to stew over his potatoes and hope this is the worst thing that happens today.

Gajeel hurries up shortly after, leading Levy and Lucy with him. " what's this I hear about you wrecking some chick, and then taking it to the queen of Fairy Hills?" He asks hurriedly.

Natsu watches as Levy tries to keep Lucy from approaching him, but she shrugs her off and walks around the table to sit next to him. She sighs poutily as she snuggles onto his shoulder. He looks at Gajeel and says, " Later, ok?"

Gajeel looks uneasy at first but eventually nods. " You're reasons are yours. Just tell me we don't have trouble coming." He gives Natsu a slightly pleading look.

Natsu shrugs and says, " No promises". He turns his head to look down at Lucy who has adopted the expression of a tired kitten and his face lightens.

Gajeel starts to speak but doesn't. He turns to Levy who is eying Natsu a Lucy. she harrumphs and turns up to look at Gajeel. He leads her off to the counter to get something to eat.

Natsu looks down at his plate, suddenly interested in the potatoes he'd left there. But there was only one left. He spun his head around trying to figure out where it had gone. He looks down again as a slender hand grabs the little potato and withdrawals. He follows it back to Lucy's mouth, which is painted with a mixture of glee and mischief. He laughs, a genuine soul filled laugh, and she giggles along with it.

-Lucy-

Lucy sat in third period feeling slightly gloomy. She hated that she and Natsu only shared one class, because it meant she couldn't spend much time with him. She huffed a sigh and flipped the page of her textbook. History, she decided, was the worst subject in the world. She sighed again thinking of Natsu.

Lucy sat in fourth period, still thinking of Natsu. She was now 100 percent sure that Art was the world's worst elective. She added the last bit of shading on a portrait of Natsu, on which included the musculature of his upper torso, and sighed leaning on her hand. Levy looked over at her with a concerned look. She didn't like how attached Lucy was to Natsu, especially after what she'd heard about his temper today.

As fourth period was drawing to an end Lucy was debating whether to go straight to Natsu's dorm or to stop at her own first. She couldn't really decide, because on one hand she wanted to spend absolutely as much time with Natsu as possible, and on the other there were things in her room she would end up needing. She turned the dilemma over in her mind and eventually decided. When the dismissal bell rang she started off toward her dorm room.

She Opens her door and walks inside her dorm, flicking on the lights she notices Natsu's clothes on her floor. She picks up his shirt and smells it. She sighs and puts his clothes on her bed. She then sets about packing clothes and personal belongings into a duffel bag. She enters the bathroom and opens the cabinet, startling as it falls onto the bottom hinge. The cabinet is full of empty prescription bottles, the sight makes Lucy uncomfortable. She leaves the bathroom and feels a draft from the window.

She moves to the window, confused because she thought it had been closed when she'd arrived. Lucy closes the window and turns back to the her room. She gasps as she comes face to face with a large man dressed in black. He grabs her and clamps a hand over her mouth as he spins her into him. He shoves a wad of fabric in her mouth, making it hard to breath. She tries to wrench away from him but he's too strong. He hits her in the head and the room reels she fights the urge to vomit as he tapes over her mouth. He ties her hands behind her and her feet at the ankles. He then pulls her arms together and ties them together at the elbows, and loops another rope at her knees. Her shoulders ache in protest and the ropes are rubbing her scrapes and cuts from the previous night.

Lucy's thoughts straighten as the man takes out a phone and makes a call. She can't understand his words over a persistent ring in her ears but can see him nodding out of the corner of her eye. He leans back over her and grabs Natsu scarf, she tries to fight but the ropes make almost impossible. She screams as he pulls it off, the sound muffled by the gag. She begins to cry as whispers begin to make themselves heard drowning out even the ring in her ears.

The man disappears from her view and returns a moment later without the scarf. He grabs her and throws her over his shoulder. She's stopped fighting and just cries as he opens the window and climbs out, descending the fire escape. On the ground he throws her roughly into the back of a car.

The drive was relatively smooth, but her arms and legs burned the whole time, and the voices in her head were practically shouting over one another. The ringing in her ears had faded leaving a dull throb, and a feeling of exhaustion. Tears stream down her face as the car comes to a sudden stop. Pain throbs in her head and a loud clanking sound resonates through the trunk. The voices begin speaking plainly to her.

Her father,"You're nothing but a hindrance." Levy, "who ever cared for you, I certainly can't think of a reason to." Natsu, " I wish you'd leave me be, you detestable addict." and another voice clearer than the rest, " Why take it, just show them you're worth something, go on" the voice is soothing but unfamiliar. It's words drive her pain away and all she feels are the ropes snap under her strength as she sinks into a gray silence.

Schedule explained: The school alarm sounds at 7:30. First period starts at 9:00. Each Period is two hours long, with a one hour lunch. This schedule is in place to provoke more advanced learning and to limit free time amongst students, who were generally admitted as a last resort school. however the disciplinary system is notoriously lax, while still having a great school behavioral record.

The school has two buildings, one is the dormitory which is 15 stories, each being able to support up to 100 students. The main school building connects at each floor to the dormitory with bridges. The main school building has four floors, one for each grade level ( freshmen,sophmore,junior,senior.) each floor has an auditorium, gymnasium, cafeteria, core classrooms as well as several expanded curriculum activities. this is also to limit fraternizatin during school hours.