A/N: Shorter update in terms of words... I usually prefer updates with 4k+ words but I figured this is just enough for this update. Why? Well... you'll see why. Oh right before I forget, I did not misspell Loke's name. The variation Lok is how I see Gray would call him since I pretty much set it up for them to be close friends, closer than Gray and Natsu would be. So no, not mistake and won't be mistake in future update... I mean I wouldn't dare misspell my second favorite male character of the series. Next update should come pretty soon since I have one hell of an explanation for the events that you are about to read. I proof-read this over and over to remove as many mistakes as possible but if I still made some grammar mistakes I will fix them ASAP. other than that, let's get on with the story!

This week was difficult for Natsu, and that is already an understatement. Pure psychological hell and it promised that very thing from the first light of the Monday morning, intending to kept its word until the final dusk of Sunday. He still couldn't sleep. Heavy thoughts still preoccupied his mind, wondering what Lucy is doing, what she is up to now, will she forgive him… Why would she forgive him? Right now he is just barely justifying his own actions. Every thought of her was a dark cloud bringing lightning in his own little world and those thunderous sounds were all the words she shared with him. She said something, but what did she really mean by it? If it wasn't for Michelle she wouldn't want to continue living? Could she even consider that? Her life must be one circle of hell leading to another, that much he was sure about but he couldn't even begin to guess what exactly is bothering her. Money? Family? No doubts, but it had to be something else too.

As soon as he reached University halls he was immediately greeted by his teammates; all those who relied on him to be the best, to be their spear-point that is to be plunged forward toward victory with them holding him by shoulders and back. Nothing changed, he was still a star that shined bright and he was very good at pretending that his only thought now is how to win next game. How ignorant of them… He walked toward classroom, trying to pull himself away from all the noise and into place where he can continue his vegetative state of perpetual thought shuffle until the bell rings and time comes to go home. It didn't pass five full minutes since he came and he already yearns to return to his room. As he moved, closer to the doors he looked forward, stopping in his track as he noticed petite girl standing by the open doors. Arms crossed, eyes focused forward with notebook nestled in her arms. He took one more step and she finally noticed him.

"Hey Levy." He greeted her, smiling as best as he could. Instead of answer she was just looking at him. Discomfort filled his mind; her soft gaze was anything but pleasing. "Right, umm… have cla-"

"Why did you do it?" Levy cut in, making him stop from entering the classroom by just uttering that one question. She didn't move, she didn't look at him but he felt as if he cannot pass through unobstructed passage. What hope there was that she didn't hear about it, was gone, thrown out the window.

"Because I am an asshole." Natsu answered, not knowing what else to say. "Because I did something terrible without considering about future consequences. But… I will fix this."

"How?" She asked, turning head to look at him. "Why?"

"I don't know, honestly, I don't have a single fucking idea how but… It's just… sounds stupid but… because it is the right thing to do."

"Did you mean what you said? When you made that bet?"

"I…" Natsu started, turning head to look at Levy.

"Be honest, at least now."

He pressed lips, hard, further adding pressure with his teeth that bit the inside of his mouth. He could lie now, he could say hundred things, how things are not as they seem, how he only said that because he was made to, how teammates forced him into such position, how his inner circle of friends demanded it or that he was not even fully awake that day and just blabbed first thing that came to his mind. So many possible lies…

"Yeah." He chose not to lie.

"You know, it is not all that bad." Levy said, moving strand of hair from her face and tucking it behind her ear. "People make bets all the time. Who will run faster, who will reach higher, who will get to girl first. It is nothing uncommon but that's not why it is painful to Lucy. It is painful not so much because you made a best against her, but because you betrayed your own image in her head."

"What image would that be?" Natsu asked. He was already annoyed, not by her lecture but by the fact that she was pointing out all the things he wanted to avoid hearing… because they were true, and he hated those kind of truths.

"That you are asshole who wears a mask, someone who underneath it is not that bad kind of guy." Levy smiled softly as she observed Natsu's reaction. His lips parted slowly and eyes darted around, not wanting to make direct contact with her gaze. "You have seen her face which means you are in the level of roughly eighty percent of entire University. You stood near her within one meter range and that's third of all students... you know her full name and that is less than ten percent."

"Where are you getting with this?" He asked a bit nervously.

"You have been to her house and that makes you one of ten people." Levy continued, pushing herself from the doors in order to turn herself completely toward him, head and body. "She opened up to you; you got to know her better than almost anyone else… that makes you one of five… Whenever you weren't around, she spoke about you. You were her topic through one context or another, talking about what you said or what you did or even about things where she didn't involve you but somehow got back to you. That makes you third person to ever make her smile in such a way."

"Wh-… who were other two?" He asked hesitantly. Never before was he this nervous, his palms slowly began to sweat.

"People she loved. Not family, not friends… people she deeply cared about."

"You think she…" Natsu began after few moments of silence.

"Lucy will never say that openly." Levy waved her head, followed by a long sigh "But she can be quite obvious when she likes someone. She is stubborn beyond levels you can comprehend, but, she is at very least honest with herself in her own, special way. All those times she turned you down, it wasn't because of hatred, although she did hate you a lot, but because she had to do so. Her situation is so, unbelievably peculiar that she has no other choice than to choose whom to trust. I know for a fact that she viewed you as "Asshole" "Idiot" so many times, but she wanted to be proven wrong. You just… managed to prove her right."

"She told me that she hates guys like me, repeatedly."

"She does." Levy added "Because she dated a guy like you. In fact… if it wasn't for the face and that ridiculous shade of pink… I would say you two are twins in character. Lucy, loved him, he was perhaps that one guy who brought her down a star and he hurt her, worst possible way."

"Yeah that sounds like me…" Natsu let out an awkward chuckle, trying to at least lower his own tension. Levy didn't smile to his joke.

"I think she saw him in you and wanted to be as far away as she could from you because you two did almost everything the same way."

"I was… trying to make her see me as me, not as everyone else."

"When did that start?" Levy cut in just as he finished sentence, taking a step forward, closer to him. "From the first moment?"

"N-no…" He stuttered.

"When?"

"Maybe week… and half ago." He answered.

"Don't you think that's a bit too early? Ten days is not enough to open up to someone, let alone to make yourself unique in someone's eyes."

"I know all that!" Natsu shouted, immediately looking around to see who else noticed his sudden outburst. "But what am I supposed to do now? I really want to fix all this."

"Why?" Levy asked "What is it you are trying to accomplish? Are you still chasing after that bet you made with Loke?"

"No…" He answered in defeated voice.

"Look… I was wrong, about a lot of things. I was wrong in believing that she needs a valve to just let steam out. What she actually needs is… someone to lean against without feeling vulnerable. But, to do that, you need to know about her first."

"Alright…" He nodded, taking deep breath "Can you tell me then?"

Levy just waved head "Can't, sorry."

"Why not?"

"Because I made a promise. One that I must keep. But, if you really want to know… ask someone who broke that promise."

"And who's that?" Natsu asked but Levy didn't answer. Instead she simply looked to her side at the other end of the hallway. At the very end of it there was a particular student, uniform neatly buttoned up and pair of glasses resting on top of his orange hair "Loke knows?"

"How couldn't he?" Levy smiled softly, turning around and making her way toward classroom "He is her childhood friend. Mine too."

"Hey, Levy?" Natsu called for her and she turned. "You are her best friend, right?"

"I like to think so."

"Why… why are you helping me?" Natsu asked, expression showing obvious confusion "I mean, I expected you to throw hell at me, shout in front of everyone or send that half-evolved missing link you call your boyfriend to beat me up. Why help me?"

"Because… I like to believe that there is more to you than you allow to be seen. Because, I think that you are still good person and that despite what everyone says, you didn't mean for things to end this way. I think that at one point you wanted it be buried deep inside you for the rest of your life. Not counting us, her closest of friends, you are the only one who helped her, without asking for anything in return. I mean… who else calls me at 3 in the morning to ask me when is Lucy waking up so you can go over there to help her clean the house? That makes you… one out of one."

"One out of one…" He mumbled in inaudible voice. His mind would often race in similar situations but now it slowed down in realization how different they are. In life, he had more lovers that he could count, not that he was counting… there were even those he loved, truly loved to point of wanting to be more than just another bed-warmer. They were all different, they were all in their own way special but none of them were 'that one'. All had something in common and yet, after what Levy said he realized that to Lucy, even though he was not only one, he was unique. And without even knowing that, without even realizing value and weight of that word, he blew it up. Bell rang, forcing him to snap out of his thoughts and enter the amphitheater, waiting for lecture to start.

"Level with me Lok…" Gray said as his fingers were already pulling the tie, loosening the grip around his neck. Class was done and two friends stood in the hallway "How the hell are you managing to keep all those buttons closed on that thing?"

"It's just uniform and it is supposed to be buttoned up." Loke responded, looking around as he was leaning against the wall "Adds feeling of being equal to everyone else, feeling of belonging to certain area of scholars and best of all…" He took a pause to look at several female students passing by. In an instant his lips curved into a smile "Has a certain class to it."

"I swear I am being choked by this thing." Gray added after finally managing to completely remove tie and hang it over his shoulder. "Can I ask you something?"

"We are way past the point of you asking me if you can ask me something."

"I've been banging my head over the past couple of days. Remember that incident several years ago?"

"Which one?" Loke asked, finally turning head to look at Gray "I recall having a number of incidents."

"One that got you in trouble." Gray said and Loke immediately lost his smile. Eyes wandered around for few seconds before he looked back at Gray.

"I told you not to ask-"

"You what's it about." Gray cut in, finishing Loke's sentence "I know and I trusted you on that topic. I haven't told anyone, but things kinda changed and I need to know."

"Alright, fair, I guess." Loke agreed, hand moved up and fingers rubbed his own lips.

"I won't ask why you did it; I just need to know on whose behalf you did it."

"No one's." Loke answered quickly "It was on my own accord."

"He did something, didn't he?" Gray asked and after few seconds, Loke nodded.

"Juvia told you, didn't she?"

"She told me who did it, not why. Rest of it I figured out myself. I mean, you got yourself in rough spot, when we left him… he was in recovery for a month."

"I know, Gray." Loke nodded, now feeling like he needs to remove his tie. True to his feelings, he moved hand up and loosened up the tie around his neck "I was the one who did it."

"Lok, we've been friends for how long? Fifteen years? I've never seen you that angry in my entire life… I mean, you were practically bloodthirsty."

"Not my finest moment, I admit that." Loke confessed, lips curved into slight smile "I don't regret it Gray, not one bit."

"And you took the fall for me too. You know, I was an accomplice."

"No, you were not." Loke quickly interjected "I did what I had to do and I asked you to come with me. You didn't had to come but you still did. On top of that I asked you not to ask questions about it. I was the one who placed you in that rough spot with me and it's only way I could've thanked for what you did."

"I know… but that's not what I was going to ask you." Gray said in lower tone. "Ever since Sparky got himself involved with Lucy I've started noticing some things. The more I got to know Lucy, more I realized that there is something… wrong. Too many…."

"Inconsistencies?" Loke asked.

"Yeah. And I know you have history with her, you told me that much… That day, when we went over to them… You did it because of Lucy, didn't you?"

Loke took a deep breath. His hands went through his hair as he paced around. Hand then moved to back of his head and scratched almost frantically before he turned toward Gray, only to answer with one simple "Yeah."

"I can dig that, yeah. So… Lucy and…"

"Yeah." Loke answered, knowing exactly what Gray was gonna ask.

"So that means that…" Gray continued, fingers trailing across the air as if he is doing calculations on invisible board. His eyes widened as he looked at Loke who kept same expression. He knew well what Gray just realized and simply nodded "Son of a bitch…" Gray chuckled, moving both hands across his face, letting out a groan "Everything makes sense now."

"Yep, that's exactly it." Loke confirmed.

"How did I miss that? So that's why you hid it from him… You do realize he's probably gonna figure it out? Small chance with his brain but… maybe."

"I know. He probably won't like hearing it."

"What will you tell him then?" Gray asked.

"Yo! Loke!" Loud voice came from across the hallway. Pink hair moved among the passing students, going straight toward them. He finally reached both of them, eyes determined and brows slightly furrowed. "Got a minute?"

"Yeah, I'll ummm... be over there." Gray added as he glanced to his right, noticing Juvia. He felt that he needed to give them room to talk.

"What's up?" Loke asked as he turned head to look at Natsu after he finished observing Gray's departure only five meters away.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Natsu asked, still calm but his temperature was slowly but surely rising.

"About what?" Loke asked calmly.

"About Lucy."

"I did. I told you that there are two girls in entire University you should stay away from… One is Mrs. Evergreen and other is Lucy. It wasn't my fault you didn't listen."

"You didn't tell me you've known her that long. You knew about her problems, didn't you?"

"Of course I did." Loke responded with slight frown of his own. "I know her my entire life. You think I would be that oblivious to entire situation?"

"So why didn't you tell me?" Natsu asked, raising his voice. Temperature was slowly reaching its limit.

"Because I am not obligated to tell you everything about my life!" Loke responded with equally high tone "Contrary to your belief I am entitled to keep certain things as personal secrets."

"Bullshit!"

"No, it is not bullshit." Loke took a few steps back. His posture showed obvious signs of being nervous, uneasy about entire situation and he took few seconds to look around. Natsu on the other hand, didn't let him one moment out of his sight, eyes fixed on him. "It wasn't even supposed to end up like this."

"What do you mean it wasn't supposed to end up like this?" Natsu asked, moving closer toward Loke.

"I mean, I expected you to fail and move on like you always do." Loke answered, turning his head to look at Natsu who was now reaching the high levels of anger.

"You expected?" Pinkette asked "What kind of twisted bullshit is that?"

"Oh don't you start playing the saint, you were the one who proposed the bet."

"Yeah, I did!" Natsu almost shouted, not caring who would hear "But you could've at least told me something as important as her current situation so I don't turn into complete asshole!"

"You didn't need to know!"

"Son of a bitch!" Natsu yelled. Out of nowhere his right fist flew and hit Loke left cheek and corner of lip. Loke stumbled back, losing the balance but quickly regaining it. Natsu was faster and within next moment he grabbed Loke by his shirt and slammed against the wall, holding him tightly pressed against. "You wanna tell me now how things like that are not important?"

Loke said nothing; he just glared at Natsu who was being pulled by Gray away from him. He looked down and took his glasses from the ground, miraculously still intact, and placed them on his face.

"It's not that simple, Natsu." He said in calm tone while Natsu kept struggling to escape Gray's hold.

"Bullshit! You thought I would just run away the moment I saw her living alone with half-sister?"

"Half-sister?" Loke suddenly asked, confused by Natsu's choice of words "Natsu… in first year you ran away from a girl who was flirting with you just because she had a kid." Loke added as he looked at Natsu.

"How is that even important now?" Natsu barked. Loke kept looking at him.

"You know…" Loke let out a short chuckle "You really can be dumb sometimes. Even Gray figured out before you and you were the one in deep while he was on sidelines."

"Figured what?" Natsu asked, suddenly looking toward Gray who released him the moment he saw Natsu calm down.

"Natsu…" Loke started. His hand moved up and with thumb he wiped blood from corner of his mouth. He looked at pinkette and continued "Michelle isn't Lucy's sister or half-sister."

"What do you mean not her sister?" Natsu asked, suddenly looking at Loke.

"That's what she tells everyone who ask. You got the official story that just about almost everyone hears when they see them together."

"The hell are you saying, Loke?" Natsu asked, frowning heavily.

Loke sighed deeply before saying "They aren't sisters. Michelle is Lucy's daughter."

A/N: I don't think this came as much of a surprise... I mean few even guessed it right, some from the start! But yea this is the second plot of the story which actually is the game-change event but still not the most complicated one. Oh things are gonna get really messy. Raise hands who saw this coming. Come on, I know you are out there with "I told you so!" or "I knew it!". Yes you knew it and yes you caught the subtle hints I was placing around and I congratulate you on it!. I do, I wanted to obscure this information as much as possible right up to this point. If I managed to surprise someone, I think I did good. Thank you all for your continuous support.