Lucy knew Natsu was not okay. After he pulled that stunt with stealing the kings crown, everyone assumed that he was back to normal, but he wasn't. He was desperate to show people that he was normal, because if it was okay for Natsu to brush off the tramatic events, it was okay for everyone to brush off the events.

Lucy could hear him crowing about being king, but it all rang false. This wasn't the happy guy that dragged her to the tallest building in Crocus and took turns with her spitting gum off of the roof. This was a desperate man trying to be that guy for the sake of his friends. And she didn't know what to do.

In one of her father's letters he had joked, "After all, what does a man have other than his fake reputation," and Natsu was clinging desperately to his. It can't be good for Natsu, having the pressure of the guild's emotions on his shoulders, but did she have the right to crack it for him? Would it be doing him a favor to tell him she didn't believe he was okay for one moment and try to share the burden, or would it only make him unable to continue coping. He has helped everyone in so many ways; Lucy with her father, Erza with Jellal, and Gray with Ur's death, did she have the right to tell him he can't keep it up?

Yes, she did. It would be repayment for everything he has already done for the guild. But not now, she would let him heal privately for a while, let him keep up appearences in front of the guild. In a couple of weeks, when everything was back to normal and the three of them would be out on a job together, she would challenge him. She could tell he would break soon, but Lucy would force him to break before he would have to put of this façade again. There should be a break before anyone else decided to destroy the world, right? Lucy would give him three weeks before confronting him.

Only Lucy didn't get those three weeks. A month had passed before she and Natsu even went on a job together again. With the guild's new popularity people were sending in requests for specific members, and while Lucy had gone on a job with Cana and another Erza, she and Natsu hadn't had the time together she was hoping for. Then all five of them were out on a mission and Lucy was going to confront him before they fell asleep, but after the hot springs, and that plan fell through. She just couldn't bring up bad memories after being so happy with everyone that night.

Then the Thunder legion and Magic Council were attacked and everything went back into fast forward mode. She could see Natsu putting up walls against what he was really feeling again and it scared her. The wall had more cracks than before.

Now here they were, Lucy was on the edge of death again, Gray was being screwed over by Deliora again, Wendy was a mess from her battle and no longer looked like their precious little girl, and Lucy knew that Natsu needed his façade. When he looked at her, there was panic in his eyes, he was so close to breaking. She mentally cursed herself for not having the guts to confront Natsu before this happened again, now all she could do was support the mask and pray that it wouldn't break before this ended.

So when he told her to let him handle everything, instead of insisting, she backed off and put all her hope and faith into one last smile.

"Okay Natsu," she didn't know if it was the right choice, if her faith would only cause him to break even more or was the push he needed to hold himself together just a little bit longer. Right now it was the only thing she was physically capable of doing to help him keep going. Later, when they came out of this alive, she would hold a vulnerable Natsu in her arms and be his strength, just like he was hers.