Happy July! Summer just moves so fast, doesn't it?
Chapter 7- Reunions part 2
Lucy had been sitting at the Fairy Tail drinking her usual strawberry smoothie looking around the rowdy guild when suddenly a small fireball knocked the pink drink out of her hand and onto her prison scrubs, which happened to be the only clothes she had due to her lack of money. She fumed at the sight of her drink on her clothes and practically screamed, "Natsu," before grabbing his ear and dragging it down so she could look him straight in the eyes. "These are my only clothes and your fire ruined them!"
"It was your fault your drink was in the way…" He murmured looking down.
Lucy narrowed her eyes. "What did you say?"
Suddenly Natsu gained back his smile and picked up Lucy. "I know what to do, Luce!" He started to run out the guild doors.
Lucy's arms wrapped around his neck instinctively as Natsu plowed through the streets of Magnolia at a rapid pace. "What the hell, Natsu?!"
"We're goin' to my place. You can wear my coat while you get your clothes cleaned!"
"I can't wear your coat!"
"Why not? You used to all the time when you were younger."
Lucy huffed, "I'm not so young any more, Natsu. Wearing your clothes would be embarrassing…"
"Nothin's embarrassing about having to wear different clothes while yours are gettin' cleaned, Weirdo."
"Fine. Just let me down, I can walk on my own."
"Although you're really heavy I'm going to have to say no."
"No?" Her eyes narrowed and her face was slightly flushed in anger.
"I know you, Luce. You're probably embarrassed about the stain. I'm just making sure no one can see it."
Lucy's eyes softened at the sentiment and she made herself more comfortable in his arms. She smiled the brightest she could at Natsu. "Thank you."
Natsu looked down at her smile and buried his face in his scarf with a tint of pink on his cheeks the same shade as his hair. "No problem, Luce."
Once they arrived at Natsu's home in the woods, he set Lucy down and opened the door for her. Once she walked into the house she had known so well in her childhood, she took a seat on the only place that didn't have clothes strown over it or weird substances growing out of it; the bed. Natsu went to his closet and started to throw things out of it in order to find his coat and possibly a pair of pants that were too small on him. He found the coat pretty quickly and threw it over to Lucy and then dug some more for the pants.
Lucy quickly took off her stained shirt and began to put on the coat. It hung loosely on her shoulders and the one long sleeve on her left side went over her hand. She had to overlap the two sides of the black coat and then latch the brown belt around her waist on the smallest setting so that it wouldn't fall off and so only one side of the dark golden trim could be seen.
Natsu finally found the pants and threw them to Lucy. When he turned around after a couple of minutes stuffing things back in his closet haphazardly, he saw Lucy with the pants and coat on and her struggling with something on the sleeve.
She noticed him looking at her and pouted slightly looking away. "Do you mind helping with the buckle on the sleeve?" She mumbled just loud enough for the dragon slayer to hear.
He chuckled slightly and went over to help her with the fickle buckle. "Can't even put on clothes by yourself anymore?"
Lucy scoffed. "I'll have you know I can put on my own clothing just fine, yours are just unnecessarily hard. I mean, buckles on a sleeve? Really? How practical is that?"
Natsu continued to laugh at her distress and walked away after putting the buckle in place. He walked over to the door out and gestured for her to follow.
She promptly picked up her scrubs and followed him out the door. "Where are you going?"
"I'm gonna pick a job out for us, since you are part of Team Natsu now!"
"When did you get that idea?"
"Just now."
"I need to wash my clothes."
"Give them to Lisanna to wash! She always washes mine."
"I can't do that. It'd be rude and I'm pretty sure she does your laundry for a different reason. Let me just stop by wear I'm staying and I'll meet you at the guild."
"No worries! I'll come with you to your house and then we can go."
"No!" She paused with wide eyes. "Just wait for me at the guild and pick out a job. I'll be right back from my," she flinched, "house."
Natsu raised an eyebrow in question, but eventually shrugged. "Okay, Luce."
Lucy let out a breath she hadn't known she had been holding as she watched Natsu walk away. She couldn't let him know she was still living in a tent or else he'd make a big deal and everyone would want to offer her warm shelter. She didn't want to be a bother to anyone else. She'd just continue to live in the tent Virgo had insisted on giving her. She didn't know why her spirits still showed her so much kindness even after not seeing them for 7 years. She wouldn't accept any of the clothes Virgo offered or the fluff Aries offered, she felt she didn't deserve them, so everyday after she left the guild she'd sleep on the dirt floor under the protection of the thin fabric the tent was made out of.
She sighed thinking of the conditions she was living in and walked towards her tent. Once she got close to where she had been staying in the woods she noticed three sets of new footprints leading up to her tent. Suddenly alarmed, she crouched down into a defensive position and sneaked her way over to her tent trying her best to not make a sound as she heard voices nearby.
In the small clearing with her tent, there were three people, two men and one woman, and two cats trying to make a fire. The man speaking the loudest was blond with light blue eyes. He wore a brown crop top with black suspenders, long black gloves that stopped just before his shoulder, and a cropped blue jacket with a fluffy gray fringe on his muscular upper body, while clad in black and gray pants with yellow undertones on his toned legs. The woman had short white hair with a blue rose in it and sapphire eyes. Her clothing consisted of a pure white dress with blue trim and thigh high boots of the same colors. A white cape draped over her small figure with white feathers around her neck to make her seem as if she were a beautifully, elegant swan. The last who had so far not said a thing had raven hair that covered one of his two piercing red eyes. A black cloak covered his body though slivers of his gray shirt and cross-patterned leg coverings could be seen if looking hard enough.
Lucy stiffened and backed up when she realized who they were she covered her mouth to make sure she made no noise while sobbing. They were... different. They no longer had large smiles on their faces when they spoke to each other; instead, their faces were either scowling, smirking, or void of any emotion at all. They too were broken. She couldn't accept it. She took another step back accidentally stepping on a twig causing the two men to look in her direction. In the blink of an eye, she was grabbed harshly and brought into her own clearing as a sort of prisoner. She couldn't handle this. She couldn't stop crying. They needed to let her go. She struggled to get out of the grip of whoever was holding her. Her vision was blurred and she couldn't get out of the strong man's arms. She bit down on the hand holding her mouth until she tasted blood warranting a small groan from the man, but nothing more as he kept his hand there though holding her a bit harder to the point it was hard to breathe.
"Wait. She smells… familiar."
Suddenly a face nuzzled her neck and she was dropped to the ground.
"Lucy…" The two men whispered at the same time. She began crawling away, but was soon stopped by a strong force crashing into her.
"Lucy!" A feminine voice rang close to her ear while thin arms wrapped around her torso.
Blinking fiercely, Lucy reached out to touch the pale face in front of her. "Y-Yukino."
Yukino nodded and touched her forehead to Lucy's. "I missed you." Tears flowed down her face as she looked at her blonde friend.
"You shouldn't have. It's my fault. It's all my fault. My fault Tenrou disappeared for seven years. My fault for goin to jail. My fault for leaving you all. I don't deserve to be missed."
She was pulled to her feet by the blonde man and held up by the collar of Natsu's jacket. He looked pissed. "What the FUCK, Lucy?!" He screamed in her face. "You're pathetic. This isn't the Lucy I know." He grew softer. "Of course we missed you, Dumbass. Nothing you can do or say about it."
"Sting." Lucy smiled at his words. Though harsh, they were exactly what she needed.
"Rogue, get over here and do what you've been talking about doing for months."
Rogue narrowed his eyes at Sting and walked over without saying anything. He turned his gaze towards Lucy who gulped wondering what he wanted. Did he want to slap her? Punch her? Pull her hair and call her the devil incarnate?
What Rogue did next surprised her as she felt his arms go around her shoulders and one of his hands go behind her head to pull it into his chest and below his chin. She leaned into his hug and wrapped her arms around his waist to pull him closer and nuzzle into his chest.
"I missed this, Rogue. I'm so s-sorry for leaving you." She sobbed into his chest and Rogue brought them both down to the ground, adjusting their position so that she was on his criss-crossed legs sideways with her legs going over his and her arms were still around his neck. He ran his fingers through her hair and whispered reassurances in her ear.
"Don't be sorry. You are here now and that's all that matters."
Yukino leaned into Sting as the duo watched Lucy and Rogue reunite. They knew how much Rogue had been looking forward to the day he would see her again. He had forgiven her the week after she had left for jail and had been pining for her ever since. He talked even less than he already did and got distracted easily by the littlest things. Seeing her was good for him. She was his light. They all knew that Rogue loved her, but the mystery was in whether she loved him back. She didn't show it much seven years before and although she was crying in Rogue's arms there was no inclination as to whether she liked now. Hell, she could be dating someone else for all they knew.
Eventually the crying stopped and Lucy got up without a word to pick up what looked to be dirty pink rags and put them in the ratty tent at the edge of the clearing. She smiled to her friends and gestured to the clearing. "Welcome to my home. Make yourself comfortable. I'll be back after I talk to Natsu."
Rogue twitched before uttering, "What's going on with you and Natsu?"
"Oh! We're really good friends now. He stained my clothes so I'm borrowing his."
"Why didn't you change into your own clothes?"
"What is this an interrogation?" She snapped causing Rogue to glare.
"You don't have any other clothes, do you?"
Lucy blushed under his harsh gaze and scowled at the ground. "No." She mumbled.
He growled. "Why didn't you ask Virgo for some clothes? She would have happily brought you some."
Lucy grew completely red in anger and she looked as if she could have commanded all of Zeref's creations in that moment. "It's none of your damn business, is it?!" She stormed out of the clearing cursing in ancient tongues that only she and possibly Levy could understand.
Rogue ran his hand through his hair. "You two stay here and make the fire. I'll be back." He growled as he left the clearing.
Yukino giggled. "They argue like an old married couple."
Sting smirked. "As long as their arguments give us a little alone time together, I'm okay with it."
Yukino smacked his arm lightly with a blush on her face. "Oh, Sting!"
