Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, nor anything else associated with Fairy Tail. I only own the plot of the following story (and prequel) and my OCs who help move the story along. (Of course, some of the ideas for my OCs come from research on certain things, or if I found nothing on that, I created it for the sole purpose of this fanfic.)

Author's Note: I took a break from studying to work on this. Circuit Analysis was hurting my brain too much. I really wanted to get this chapter posted before I end up being brain dead because of finals. I enjoyed writing this chapter because it's helping me develop which characters I want to focus on and how I want them to interact with each other. I hope you guys enjoy this too! Please leave a comment or something if you like! I kind of need to get back to studying now, so without further adieu:

Chapter 2: The Promise

Lisanna paused by a bench in the park. She hunched over, catching her breath. She had to find Natsu. She had to tell him how she felt. She wanted to help him move forward from the past he appeared to be stuck in. She sat down on the bench, closing her eyes. Breathe, she thought to herself. Calm your breaths and then go look for him.

Once her breathing calmed, she opened her eyes to see Happy lying on the ground by the big tree, his blue fur extremely hard to miss. She stood up, stretched her limbs, and walked towards Happy. She noticed Natsu laying next to him on the other side of the tree. "Natsu! Happy!"

Natsu turned his head to look in the direction of the person who called his name to see Lisanna waving. He nudged Happy, motion for him to look in that direction.

Lisanna watched him smiling, a hint of sadness still lingering in his eyes. She sat down next to him, staring at the grass. "You still miss her don't you?" she asked, solemnly.

Natsu remained silent. He didn't want to hurt Lisanna's feelings anymore than he already had. Slowly, he nodded. "Yeah. Everyone does though."

"I'm sure that she's happy wherever she is though."

"I hope so."

A long, slightly awkward silence fell between the two.

"Hey, do you remember when we were kids, raising Happy?"

"Yeah."

"I was wondering," Lisanna spoke, her voice growing softer. "If…" Her voice barely above a whisper that only Natsu could hear. "If you liked me…"

"Why wouldn't I like you, Lisanna? We've been friends forever." He smiled softly.

"You're just as dense as ever… I like you Natsu… I think… I… I love you."

Natsu rolled over onto his side, his back facing Lisanna. He remained silent.

"Lucy hasn't come back. She hasn't contacted. She hasn't said a word to anyone. Not one of her spirits have appeared. "

"Lucy would never do anything without a reason. She will come back…" Especially because of what she said, Natsu thought. He closed his eyes again.

"But you don't sound so certain that she will anymore…"

"I…" He didn't know how to respond. "We can still hangout okay? I'm going to go train for awhile on my own. Happy, you can stay here with Lisanna."

Natsu jumped up, dashing off through Magnolia to clear his head. Forget about Lucy and go for Lisanna? he thought to himself. "Not possible!" He slammed his fist into the nearest tree as he stopped along the edge of the eastern forest.

"Natsu," Lucy looked longingly into his eyes. "I'll come back to you. I promise."

The sun had begun to set when Lisanna returned to the guild. Mirajane sighed as she watched her youngest sibling sulk over to the bar with Happy following behind. Erza turned away from the bar to look in that direction.

"You okay Lisanna?" Erza asked between rushed bites of her strawberry cake.

"I'm fine." She sighed in response, plopping down onto a seat. "It's just been a long day."

"Nnnn…" Erza nodded, finishing the last bite.

"Do you want to talk about it right now?" Mira asked.

"Ehh…. not right now. I still need to think…" She lay her head down on her crossed arms and clossed her eyes.

"Well," Erza looked from Lisanna to Mira, "you can give her the last piece of the cake. I can't eat another bite tonight."

Mira smiled thoughtfully. "Sure!" She quickly walked to the kitchen to grab the last piece of today's strawberry cake.

"Welp, I'm going to get going now." Erza stood up, stretching. "I'll see you all tomorrow."

As Erza walked out of the guildhall, Gray stood up and yawned. "I'm gonna call it a night, guys." Juvia slunk after Gray all the way to the doors, then disappeared in her own direction for a nice, warm bubble bath. (Who says a girl made 100% of water can't enjoy bubble baths?)

"What's up with those guys?"

Mira shrugged. "Sometimes I don't even know."

Happy flew above the town around the eastern forest, looking for Natsu. He had flown everywhere, except the forest. He didn't want to even look through there, knowing full well Natsu would show up when he was ready to.

The two sat quietly under the tree for a while after Natsu had left. Happy had been entertaining Lisanna with stories of Charle and what he wanted to do for her.

"You're so romantic, Happy. How come Natsu isn't the same way even though you two are the closest?"

"..."

"I guess he's just not that kind of person."

"Nastu loves you." Happy looked at Lisanna with calm, caring eyes.

"But in what way, Happy?" Lisanna reached towards him and picked him up.

"...Like family!"

She had sighed after that. Happy knew exactly how Natsu felt about both Lisanna and Lucy. He had noticed over the years that Lucy became more prominent in his life. He wanted both girls to be happy. He wanted Natsu to be happy. But if Lucy didn't return, couldn't Lisanna make Natsu just as happy as Lucy had?

Happy gave up on thinking and headed for Lucy's. His head hurt and fish sounded like a good cure for a headache.

Erza walked through the streets towards the park. She stopped in front of a small shop, admiring the blue and red in the window. She was too busy checking the price to notice Gray walk up behind her.

"Fancy meeting you here."

"Huh?" Erza turned towards Gray, who stood on her right.

"Dress shopping before we're supposed to be meeting up with Loke?"

"Ah… yeah." She turned back towards the dress. "More like window shopping though."

Gray looked towards the sunset. "It's time."

Erza only nodded.

Both remained silent as they walked towards the park together. Unspoken thoughts resounded between them. Is Lucy actually alive? Will she come back? Is she in trouble? The most important question that lay before them was what they should do about Natsu.

The two found Loke standing under the tree waiting for them, no one else left in the park. As if in response to their main concern, he said, "You must tell no one what I'm about to tell you."