A/N: Wow... was it really that long since last update? Okay, I need to throw in believable excuse as to why I was waiting and... mhm... yeah... I got nothing. Actually I wanted to try out different genre and allow myself to not be stuck in a rot because at this point I really involved myself into this story and last thing I want is to get bored of it. That is main reason why I write multiple stories at once, so I can get fresh ideas. Anyway, the writer will not shut up and let you read the story. As always, let me know what you think.

Wednesday. If one thing is as certain as gravity is the most famous quote that says 'time flies when you are having fun'. On the same note, exact opposite can be applied and translated into 'time stops when your guts are in your throat.' Not literally, but Natsu didn't seem to know the difference at this point. For past two days he came to college with both hope and fear that Lucy would come if only so he could once more apologize or explain. Every time he took the phone in his hands there would be no calls and roughly 20 messages… but none were from her. He wanted to text her, he wanted to call her but as soon as he was about to press finger on his phone and call… he moved it aside and put the phone away. Two days felt like two weeks. Today is third one and classes were passing one by one, all spent in same mood, same stance and same train of thoughts. His world was slowly showing signs of cracking on walls and foundations and it was a feeling that he felt only once before. He didn't like it back then either.

"Snap out of it!" voice reached his ears and he obeyed the command, snapping out of his thoughts "What is wrong with you these days?"

"Didn't sleep much." Natsu answered lazily. He wasn't lying, his sleep was short and what dreams came to him were all centered on reliving that Sunday evening. "What do we have next?"

"Nothing." Gray said as he stood up from chair, walking outside of the amphitheater, followed closely by his pink friend "We got half hour till practice and I do not look forward to it."

"Why not?" Natsu asked, furrowing his brows as he waited for reply.

"Coach Strauss is in bad mood, probably had a fight with his wife…" Gray answered with cringe in his voice. His face disfigured slightly in obvious dissatisfaction and small dose of fear "And now he's gonna make our lives living hell. Still thinking about Lucy?"

"Yeah…"

"I don't know what to tell you." Gray sighed deeply; his hand reached up and rubbed his own face, moving up and through his hair as he looked around. "I honestly did not expect it would go that way, I thought you'd screw up as you go, not from the start."

"Really, Gray?" Pinkette looked at him, crossing arms "How about you have a little bit of faith in me and throw in some good idea?"

"I do have faith in you and trust me I will benefit from pulling you out of this shit…"

"How will you benefit from this?" Natsu asked, raising his voice.

"Because if word spreads of this guess who is gonna rip my balls off and serve it as cocktail olives…" Gray sighed yet again, his hand now moving faster through hair, ruffling it almost furiously. "Have you even talked to Lucy in the meantime?"

"No, I haven't seen her since Sunday. She probably won't be coming for the rest of the week." Natsu said, leaning against the wall, watching as students from other classrooms moved along.

"What makes you say that?" Gray asked curiously.

"Well if Lucy is anything like every other girl she's probably locked up in her room. That's how girls usually end up after a breakup…"

"Well, you have been wrong before." Gray added and nodded to his side. Natsu turned to look at direction where he is nodding and there he spotted Lucy leaving classroom. "Doesn't look like she is too bummed about what happened. Hey where are you going? Hey? Dammit!"

Before Gray even had the time to call for him again, Natsu was already halfway to her, moving with quick pace in order to catch up with her. She was walking alone, not paying much attention to things around her. He called for her again but she didn't reply, leaving him with more than enough reason to believe that she indeed intended to stick to her words and just forget about everything.

"Hey." He finally caught up with her, standing in front. She stopped looking up at him "Can we talk?"

"I don't really see the point of it." Lucy replied, voice monotone and cold.

"At least… let me explain, please." He pleaded.

"Alright, explain." Her voice was still calm, composed. Natsu, on the other hand, was surprised… he expected her to try and walk past him, walk in other direction, to deny him chance to say anything or at least to hit him. Instead, she held her bag in hands, looking up at him with blank expression, waiting for him to explain. He didn't planned things this far or that she would allow him to speak.

"I know things were rough on you for the past couple of days and-"

"Rough? What makes you think I had rough time?" She asked, lifting her eyebrow as she observed pinkette with genuine confusion.

"Ummm… well you didn't attend the classes, so I figured…"

"So you figured that because of you I would cry in some corner, refusing to come out. Am I right?" Lucy asked but he was silent, mouth slightly gapped open. Yes is correct, but he didn't want to say it out loud. "It is, and I cannot believe I'll use this word, cute… that you think my world revolves around your actions. Michelle had a fever and I couldn't leave her alone."

"Yea, okay, let's go with that." He nodded at her.

"You don't believe me?" She asked, moving her arms and now holding her bag with just left hand, right one hanging by her body.

"No no, I believe you, just…" He started but he didn't finish his sentence. In truth, he didn't really believe her as his experience provided him with ample opportunities to hear all kinds of excuses. What stopped his sentence weren't his own thoughts or intention; it was the pain on his left cheek that was left after a quick and loud slap.

"Don't you DARE think that I would toy with something important like my sister's health!" She growled at him, hand rose with finger extended, right in front of his face. "Her health is more important to me than school, classes, everything else including your own excuses!"

"You're right, I'm sorry…" He apologized, gaze turned away from her as he felt that old feeling he almost forgot about. Guilt.

"Then, let's hear what you had to explain so we can end all this and I can continue with my life."

He made long pause. Pain still radiated on his skin, feeling as if blood was simply aching to escape, burst out like volcano. That one slap felt more painful than anything he ever felt before, any beating he got from Gray, from teammates, from all the fights he had from elementary school right up to this point.

"I didn't know it would be like this… Yes… I… made the bet to see if I can… make you have sex with me within a week…"

"It was longer than just one week." Lucy interjected, glaring up at him "Even after that week, you still had same plan, didn't you?"

Natsu was caught, feeling urge to lie, to say anything else but the truth. Instead, he nodded "Yes." At this point he expected another slap across the cheek. He prepared himself for the sting of her palm but it never came. "I know you are mad at me."

"Natsu, I am not mad at you." Lucy said, making him widen his eyes. Her voice was softer than it was before, less threatening "I am mad at myself for allowing you to get closer to me. I knew exactly who you are from the moment you sat next to me. Even then I knew you are egotistical, shallow jerk who always aims for one thing. I am mad because I knew all that but I led myself to believe that… all those stories about you are just stories and that I should at least give you a chance to pretend you are someone different."

"I am just asking you to give me a chance."

"A chance for what?" Lucy asked.

"To prove that I even if I am the one from those stories, I can be someone else." Natsu answered, feeling that his throat has a fist-sized stone in it.

"And what do you think that would prove? That I was wrong and that I should just let it go? You still don't get it do you?" She smiled, not out of happiness but out of pure anguish that was reigning inside of her head "If you were in my place… just… put yourself in my shoes and tell me this. Would you forgive someone like you? Someone who, from the very start, only wanted to have sex with you and leave in the morning. Maybe not one day, but surely no longer than it entertains him. Pull out some excuse like "I don't think it will work out between us" or "We should just stay friends". What is worse is that the same person didn't even want to be with you for the sake of shallow desire or need… but for the sake of the bet." She made pause, calming herself, collecting her thoughts. Natsu was silent, eyes fixed to the side, staring at the point on the ground… daring not to look into her eyes. "And what was my price? A drink. Would you forgive yourself for allowing such person to come close to you?"

Natsu's silence continued, still refusing to utter a single word. Of course he wouldn't forgive someone like that, of course he wouldn't even make half-effort to care about person who would abuse his trust and all good intentions only for the sake of one night. Ironic, isn't it? Of course it is, everything he hated right this moment is everything that described him. Lucy slowly shook her head as he watched him stand in silence.

"I honestly… honestly… am completely overwhelmed by my own, entire life and everything that is thrown at me. Do you know just how often I just sit at home and wonder where my life is heading? How often I tell myself that I have to be strong, that I have no room to crack and how often I prove to myself that I am not? Forget everything that Levy tells you, I am not nearly as strong as she says I am. You cannot imagine what I went through and you cannot begin to feel what I felt. You wouldn't believe just how rarely someone… compliments me. For anything. And I really need that sometimes, to pat me on the back and make feel at ease for just five seconds. That's all I need, five seconds per day."

Lucy looked at other students that passed by, minding their own business, chatting jesting and laughing about their own little anecdotes in lives. "I have few friends, enough so I can count them on fingers of one hand. If it wasn't for them I don't know how I would survive. I am desperately trying to achieve everything I can but… Here is something only you will hear. No one knows this." Lucy stopped, waiting for him to finally look at her. He could see she was struggling but she kept it strong, as if she is that rock that defies the tooth of time itself. Defiant, tenacious… but shaking. "If it wasn't for Michelle, if it wasn't for that one glimmer of hope that I can provide her better life than I have… I don't think I'd want to continue living."

"So please, Natsu… I am begging you as if you are my very guardian angel… Please, stop it." Lucy added, swallowing hard as she kept looking at him "Just let me be. I am not the girl you want and you are definitely not the guy I need. Just forget about all that happened and move on with your life. Let me live mine as best as I can. If you need this I will say it, I forgive you for what you have done and you don't have to help me anymore."

Her eyes looked away, taking few seconds to collect her own thoughts. After one long sigh, she placed her backpack over her shoulder moved past Natsu, leaving him to just stand there, stare at unknown point in the distance that was until moments ago obscured by her eyes. That crack in his world now suddenly began to expand.

"Hey man, how did it go?" Gray asked as he moved closer, making Natsu snap out of his thoughts yet again.

"I honestly don't know anymore." Natsu said in lower tone.

"Look, I know you don't want to hear this but, maybe you should really let it go. You'll bounce back in a week or two like you always do and then you'll move on. Not every girl is gonna fall for you so… just pick up your pieces and move on. We got games to play and do you really want yourself in the gutter?"

"No." Pinkette said, looking at Gray. His voice was strong and defiant "I am going to fix this."

"Oh come on…" Gray moaned "Please just let it go."

"No." Natsu defied yet again. He took two steps away from him, hand rubbing his eyes then moved down to his lips and chin. With swift move, he turned to face Gray "I fucked up. I did stupid thing without realizing it'll bite me in the ass… but I will fix this. Even if it takes me-"

"Even if it takes you what? Weeks, months, years?" Gray questioned in loud voice. "I am supporting you, don't think I am going against you but just for minute think clearly."

"I am thinking clearly, Gray." Natsu said, taking deep breath, looking around. "I can't just give up now."

Gray let out a groan, burring face in his palms. His groan increased, became louder and akin to a wild dog "Juvia is so gonna visit me with a knife one morning… Natsu, if I can't have kids I am gonna blame you."

"You'll live." Natsu commented. His brows furrowed all of a sudden "Wait, how did she found out?"

"About the bet?" Gray asked, pulling his now flushed face out of his palms.

"Yeah. I mean… it's not like I spilled it out… You think it was Loke?"

"Nah, I spoke with Loke yesterday over the phone. He said he told nobody about it."

"And you believe him?"

"Yes, I do." Gray answered "I know him for long time Natsu, he can be an asshole sometimes… not as big as you but he is not a douche."

"Ok… ok ok… so, if he didn't tell anyone and… I didn't tell anyone… Who did it?"

"I don't know. What I do know is that we're gonna regret the day we were born if we are late for practice."

"Trouble in paradise?" Female voice was heard and Natsu turned around. He knew that voice.

"Jenny… yea, not best moment."

"I know." She said rather calmly "I heard pretty much all of it. For the note, you deserved much worse."

"Wait, how do-" Natsu frowned again, hand raised up slightly. His mind slowly began to place all pieces of the puzzle. She couldn't be the one to tell Lucy about it but shadow of doubt persisted. "Are you..."

"Am I the one who told her about the bet? Yes." Jennifer said, again keeping her calmness. Natsu on the other hand was everything but calm; he grabbed her by her shoulders and pushed her against the wall, hard. Anger took over, his pupils grew thin and lips curved, revealing line of teeth.

"Why the fuck did you do that?" He growled at her, squeezing her shoulders hard. It would've been a lot harder but Gray quickly grabbed and pulled him away from her.

"Hey, knock it off!" Gray yelled at Natsu as he held him in a lock.

"It was her!"

"Yes, it's me. You wanna know why? It's because you came after me!" She yelled at him, calmness disappeared and was replaced by almost same anger he now felt "Ever since freshman year it was always you who chased me. I didn't want to date you but you kept going after me again and again even after you had your ways with other girls. Don't look at me like that, university is not that big of a place, people gossip. Heck, even when I had boyfriend you still tried to screw me. And finally couple of weeks ago, I decided to give you that chance you wanted so much. You remember all the things you promised me?"

Natsu was still glaring at her, held tight by Gray, feeling as if he is dog on a leash. His breathing became fast, loud as air went in and out of his nostrils.

"The best night I will ever have, one where I'll see stars. More than that, you promised me that I am, and I cannot believe I fell for this, different, special. So yeah, I thought I would give you the chance since you didn't intended to back down… and then what happened? I said yes and you decided you want another girl and gave me world's biggest cliché of a breakup. Do you remember that? Let me refresh your memory." She paused for a moment and then began talking again, imitating Natsu's voice as much as possible "Hey, um, look, I don't think things will work out between us so, think it is best we split up."

Natsu finally calmed down, his attempts to break out of Gray's hold subsided as he listened to her.

"For years you kept promising me towers and castles, all so you could lure me into your bed and when I finally give myself to you, mind and body… you just couldn't even muster one minute of honesty to tell me why you are breaking up with me. And what's worse than that?" She laughed "You broke up with me outside of the university, where everyone could see it and like it is nothing."

"Is this all because of that? Revenge?" Natsu asked her.

"Yes. You broke my heart, now you get just a little bit of that back at you. Now we are done."

"For fuck's sake…" Natsu muttered, rubbing his eyes. He was no longer held tightly by his friend, but for just to be safe, Gray still kept his hand on Natsu's shoulder. He knew well how impulsive Natsu can be, how quickly and fiery he reacts.

"Oh and Natsu." Jennifer said as she turned, facing him and Gray "Next time you are making a bet with someone, make sure you are not in the hallway where everyone can hear you."

"Okay… so you were busted from day one. Someone heard you and told her about it… then she told all that to Lucy." Gray said as he released Natsu "Well I won't lie… that was a dick move." Gray added as he watched her walk away.

"No, she is right."

"I wasn't talking about her."

To say that practice was hell was an understatement. Just as Gray foreseen hell in making, so it happened. Elfman was in bad really mood. His reason was very much along with Gray's prediction… an argue with Evergreen that led to him sleeping on uncomfortable couch and with his size taken into account it all led to a painful stiffness in his neck and shoulders. He needed a vent, he needed someone to be his scape-goat and receive all of his current frustration. Fortunately for him, list of such was long. It was all masked with this is for your own good excuse. Gray managed to stay below coach's radar and proved that his nickname is well earned. Clean, precise execution of all calls earned him "Not bad Fullbuster, but you can do better than that!" It may not sound like much of a compliment, but in this situation it meant he won't have to repeat same drill ten more times.

Natsu on the other hand was less lucky. His mind constantly drifted to everything that occurred today. First Lucy, then Jennifer and in those moments of weak focus he made all the mistakes he could. That day, he was Elfman's punch bag. Well… figuratively. The image of flawless Natsu, the peerless prodigy seemed more like a myth that reality. This one was sloppy, slow, easy to tackle, easy to trick and all that just further fueled Elfman with reasons to yell at him. Unprofessional? It was, but no one doubted in Elfman's results and everyone knew his methods. Yelling is just something everyone had to endure. Pinkette just couldn't muster a single care about his failed drills and sloppy catches. The cracks became even wider.

Fortunately for them, there is only so much coach can do and after last whistle, everyone had to hit the showers and prepare for another day and another practice. Perhaps he will be in better mood. Loud moans were heard, words of curses and spite as they showed their newly earned "war trophies" in forms of bruises. Natsu was no different, he earned quite a few of such after several hard tackles, but unlike everyone else, he didn't say a word. He finished and headed home.

"Hey." He said as he closed main doors of his house, greeting everyone inside. Only Igneel was in the living room, sitting in his armchair, reading papers.

"And good afternoon to you as well." Igneel commented, lowering his papers to look at his son. "Did anything of interest happen today?"

Yea, everything went wrong.

"Nope." Natsu answered.

"Mhm. Can I speak with you for a moment?"

"Yea, sure." Natsu said, feeling a bit anxious. It wasn't common for Igneel to initiate conversation with him in this way. Usually it was because he screwed something up. He sat on the couch, leaning forward with elbows placed on his knees, looking toward his father who folded newspapers and adjusted his glasses.

"How close are you with that colleague of yours, Lucy?"

"I don't know… I guess we were good." Natsu answered half-heartedly.

"Were?" Igneel asked.

"Yeah, some things happened."

"I see." Igneel added, letting out a soft hum "And you trust her, I presume?"

"I guess I do. Umm… why you are asking me this?"

"Well to be perfectly honest you do not exactly introduce us to anyone of your… mmm girlfriends."

"Yeah ummm… see…" Natsu found himself in awkward position. He was absolutely certain Igneel is aware of his interest in girls but it was still not comfortable to speak about it with his own father.

"I do have to say that young Lucy does seem like well-educated and polite person, not to mention you having to go extra mile to help her in ways that I usually have to force you to do around here."

"Yeah, about that, I promise I'll help around the house-"

"I am sure you will but this is not about your chores." Igneel continued, cutting Natsu in mid-sentence. Pinkette didn't like when this occurred but he knew better than to complain. "I am more interested now in how much you trust this girl and how much she is open to you."

"Dad…" Natsu started and stood up from couch, preparing himself to leave "I honestly don't know anymore. Some… stuff happened and I don't know if I can fix everything. You don't have to worry about her."

"I did a bit of a research." Igneel said, making Natsu stop just as he was about to reach the stairs "Her last name did strike me as familiar one and I had to check."

"Heartfilia?"

"Indeed. See, that is not common last name. In fact there are only three Heartfilia families and two of them live in Bosco."

"Alright, it's a rare name, what of it?"

"She told you that her parents are no longer alive?"

"Yeah. She said they died last year." Natsu answered, turning his head to look at Igneel who was still calm, carefully listening to Natsu's answers.

"I see." Igneel said, nodding slightly.

"Why?" Natsu asked.

"Well, reason why I am asking is because at this point I am certain that Lucy is in fact daughter of Jude and Layla Heartfilia."

"Okaaaay…" Natsu said, elongating the word. He was confused and that was clearly seen on his face.

"Natsu, Jude Heartfilia is very much alive."

Natsu's eyes widened, his eyebrows moved up as much as was possible. He was speechless for good ten seconds before he could collect himself and ask "Are you sure?"

"I should hope so. Unless he died this morning, I am sure that he is alive."

"But, how do you know that Lucy is their daughter?"

"Because…" Igneel said as he stood up from his armchair, fixing his shirt to be straight and without wrinkles, showing his ever-present meticulous side "Jude never did speak much about his own family, but, he did mention that he has a daughter who is spitting image of her mother."

"Wait… you know them?" Natsu asked, turning himself to face Igneel completely with head and body, still confused and with questions.

"I know them both, yes. Well, knew would be correct word. Her mother, Layla has died but I can confirm that they are very much alike if not the same… but I did not wish to assume before I had some compelling evidence that they are related. So, I did a bit of a research."

"But… if her dad is alive… why is she not with him? Why did she say he's dead?"

"That is a good question." Igneel added, letting out a long hum "She clearly didn't want you to know and that is why I am asking if you trust her, seeing as she doesn't trust you enough to tell you something this important."

"Do you think that maybe she doesn't know that he's alive?"

"I sincerely doubt that she is in such state of ignorance. Jude wouldn't exactly be without resources to find her if they did somehow got separated."

"Resources?"

"Jude Heartfilia owns a large company with very high yearly profit. I believe your generation has more appropriate term that could describe him. Filthy rich."

"Huh… But, I've seen Lucy at home… I mean, she is barely managing everything with three jobs…"

"Which is why I am asking you if you are completely sure about trusting her. Despite your tendency to be involved girls of your age I do not wish for you to find yourself too deep in some issues that you may not be able to resolve. I do advise caution."

"You said he has a daughter… What about other one, Michelle?"

"I didn't found anything about her. It is possible that he remarried in the meantime but, circumstances in that case would be different. Raises question why would her half-sister be with Lucy instead of her own father."

"Yeah, okay… ummm… thanks for telling me." He said with a nod and walked upstairs to his room. As soon as he closed doors of his room he threw bag on the bed and sat on the chair. All this now took completely another turn, changed his entire perspective on how he is seeing her. He knew well that he is a bit of a spoiled brat from time to time, taking money he has as allowance and earned through scholarship as granted but he knew well that someone with kind of money a company owner has, one wouldn't be stuck in position to be desperate… and Lucy is very desperate. One question came after another, answers that he couldn't get. Maybe ask her? Right now he will be lucky if she even wants to look at him and she probably told everything to Levy. It came to him, like revelation to greatest mysteries of life… a ray of light in the darkness.

"Loke!"