A/N: Okay, I guess I owe people a better explanation than what I gave in the last author's note so I'm posting another chapter to make up for it. If I'm being completely honest, I just didn't wanna deal with the honeymoon portion of the relationship. Happy things aren't my forte. Sorry, guys.

Emotional things are fun for me, but relationship angst makes me want to bang my head repeatedly against a wall. So I'm switching to something more my style. Whether that's a good style...well, I'm a mediocre writer as is so I guess anyone reading this is just gonna have to deal haha.

I hope you're all ready for today's chapter, because it's another important one. When we left, Natsu and Lucy finally got together, and now we fast-forward to a couple months later...

It all started when my father sat me down for a talk.

"The company is closing," he said.

It took me a full minute to let that information absorb. "What?!"

He sighed. "They're moving all work to the Hargeon location next month, and they've requested I transfer. I'll even get a raise." He paused. "It's your senior year so I don't want to uproot you, but if I can't find another job in Magnolia before the closure, we may have to move."

The first thing I did was call Levy.

I started speaking the moment she picked up. "Levy? Levy, I might be moving."

She must've heard the trembling in my voice, because she said, "Lu? Where are you? Are you home?"

I nodded before realizing she couldn't see me. "Yeah."

"I'm taking the bus over. Don't move."

I didn't budge an inch until I heard her at the door. Only then did I get up to let her in.

As soon as the door opened, she tackled me in a tight hug.

"Where's your dad?" she said.

"He went to work after telling me."

"Right, it's a weekday. Wanna talk about it?"

I nodded.

We went back to my room. It was a mess. I was a neat freak during the school year, but the summer heat always made me lazy. But now, I wished my room was just a little bit cleaner. One less piece of chaos in my morning.

I repeated what my father had said, and she just nodded and listened, letting me talk out all my worries and fears. At one point, she started holding my hand, providing me a firm but reassuring touch. And when I was done talking, she wrapped me in a hug.

"You know we love you, Lu," she said. "Even if you have to move, we'll still be your friends. Long-distance friendships can be tough for some people, but if it's you, I think everyone would agree we can make it work."

I curled my knees to my chin. "I just…you know how I didn't have friends when I went to private school. Coming to Fairy Tail High was when I really came out of my shell and made my first friends. I don't want to leave it behind. Not so suddenly, not like this."

"Let's just take this one step at a time, okay? There's still a chance you can stay. The company doesn't close for another month, right? We have a whole month to think things through. Just breathe. You'll be okay."

"I know that, Levy," I said. "I know that, but it doesn't make it feel any better."

She smiled sadly. "I know. I just wanted to say it. To show my support, or something like that…"

"Thanks."

"Did you tell Natsu yet?"

I shook my head. "Only you. Like I said, this literally just happened. You were the first one I called."

"Well, I hope you don't mind, but on my way over I texted Erza and Juvia telling them to be on standby in case you needed them. I didn't give them specifics, just that something happened and that it wasn't Natsu. So Erza wouldn't try to kill him." We both laughed. "They're both free today too, so if you want to tell them, I'm sure they're both worried right now."

"Yeah, tell them to come over, too," I said. "I'll tell Natsu later after I've talked it out with you guys."

"Good idea. You know how Erza always says, 'sisters before misters.'"

"Anyone before misters, honestly," I said.

Levy smirked. "Don't let Natsu hear you say that."

"Oh, he already has," I said, waving off her tease. "He has the sense not to take things like that personally."

"He's a keeper," Levy confirmed.

"How about Gajeel? I haven't heard about him in a while."

She shrugged. "No news is good news?"

"Don't hold back just because I had something happen today."

"It's nothing," she insisted. I could tell there was something by the uncomfortable expression on her features, but if she didn't want to talk about it, she was probably just waiting to work it out on her own.

"Let's call Juvia and Erza over," I said, reaching for my phone.

"Yup."

They came not too long after. I talked to them too, but it soon evolved into a typical hang-out. I think they were trying to keep me from getting too preoccupied and stressed about my possible move.

But then a call came.

"Lucy, your phone is ringing," Erza said.

"Yeah, yeah, I hear it." I stretched my body over the armrest of the couch to grab it. My hand froze when I saw the caller.

"Who is it?" Juvia asked.

I pulled back to sit straight. My thumb hovered over the green button. "It's Natsu."

"Better pick it up," Erza said.

I scrambled to my feet and headed toward my room. "Sorry, guys."

"We'll be out here if you need us," Levy said, turning on the TV.

When the door was closed behind me, I answered the phone.

"Hey, Natsu. What's up?"

"Lucy. I have some news for you."

My heart rate picked up. He didn't sound so good. "What is it?"

"I wanted to tell you in person, but…I don't know. I don't think I can show my face right now."

Okay, this was really bad. He didn't know about my move yet, did he? It didn't sound like that's what this was about. But what could have him so upset? He didn't get like this easily.

"Lucy."

"Yeah?"

"They found my dad."

My breath caught in my throat. I suddenly felt cold.

"He's dead, Lucy. Lucy, he's dead." His voice cracked.

My heart was breaking for him. He'd held onto hope all this time, for this.

"Natsu, I'm so sorry," I said. I didn't want to sound pitying, but…what else could I say to something like that? "Are you okay?"

"What do you think?"

"Okay, stupid question. What about the others?"

"My dad's the only one they found, so far. But it doesn't look good. Wendy's not doing so great either right now."

"I'm so, so sorry, Natsu. That's really horrible. Let me know if you need a shoulder."

"Yeah. Sorry, Luce."

"It's fine. I'm sorry, too. Now might be a bad time, but…Natsu, I had something to tell you today, too. I was actually about to call you."

"Great." Even with the sarcasm, his voice cracked again.

"Look, I don't want to keep it from you just because you have more important stuff going on. It wouldn't be fair to you. But my dad talked to me this morning, and, uh. We might be moving."

There was a short stunned silence. "Moving?"

"Levy, Juvia, and Erza are here right now. I told them first, but I was going to call you later and ask to talk, and…nothing's certain, my dad might still get a job in Magnolia, but if he can't, then I'll have to go with him to Hargeon."

"Hargeon," he said. "That's so far away."

"I know."

He let out a long breath.

"I wanted to tell you in person, too, but things turned out like this…"

"It's okay," he said. "We'll be okay."

But he didn't sound convinced, and that realization was painful. He wasn't okay. I could tell. But I knew him well enough not to push the subject. Not now, not over the phone like this.

"Do you want to come over and talk?" I said. "Or I can go to you."

"No," he said. "Don't."

Another pain. "Okay. Just don't bottle everything up, okay? We're all here for you."

"Yeah. You can tell the others about my dad, by the way. I…I thought you should know first, but now I think I don't have the energy to tell anyone else for a while…"

"If that's what you want, then okay. Cry it all out, all right?"

He laughed a little and sniffled. "Of course you knew."

"You're kind of easy to read."

"Yeah, I know."

"Call again if you change your mind."

"You don't cry too much either."

"I already cried a lot with Levy. Maybe I'll cry some more after the others leave. I— I'm really sorry about your dad, Natsu. I was looking forward to meeting him, too. But doesn't this mean they're one step closer to finding out who did this?"

"I—" His voice cracked. He cleared his throat. "I hope so."

"Don't lose your voice," I giggled. "I'm hanging up now. Have strength."

"You too."

I had to take a few moments before I went back out to the others. This whole day was becoming too much. First I might be moving, then something's up with Levy and Gajeel, and now Natsu's father. My head felt like it was about to explode.

When I finally did emerge from my room, all three of my friends were staring at me.

"Woah, Lu, you don't look so good," Levy said.

"What did Natsu say?" Juvia asked.

I sat down and sighed. "It's a tough day for everyone, it seems," I said.

"So you told him?" Levy said.

I nodded. "Yeah. But before I could do that, he had some news of his own." I paused. "They found Natsu's father."

Shouts of surprise.

"They did?" Levy exclaimed.

"I take it it wasn't good news," Erza said.

"It's not. He's dead."

This time, silence.

Levy was the one to break it. "Oh, no, Lu. Oh, no. Oh, no."

"Natsu was so looking forward to finding his father," Erza said. "He had so much hope. Just from the way Natsu talked about him, I couldn't wait to meet him, too."

"I told Natsu the same thing," I said.

"Then Wendy's and Gajeel's parents…?" Juvia said. According to Levy, Gajeel was raised by his aunt and uncle at the shop, and that's actually how he and Natsu got to know each other — their parents were both suspected to have been victimized by the same person.

"They don't know. But it doesn't look good, obviously. It's been seven years. They finally found one of the victims, but he's dead."

"Did he die recently or was he dead all this time?" Erza asked.

I frowned. "I don't know. I didn't ask, and Natsu didn't say."

"We need to be there for him," Erza said. She moved to stand up, but I grabbed her to hold her in place.

"He needs to be alone right now," I said, firmly.

She hesitated, but didn't resist my hold on her. Giving a resigned sigh, she relaxed back into her seat. "If that's what you think is best," she said.

"Don't worry, I already told him that we're all here for him when he needs us. He just…he just needs some space right now." I didn't think he'd want them to see his tears. Kind of like these girls were the only ones to see mine.

Erza cleared her throat, drawing attention to herself. "While we're all having terrible days, I might as well mention that I confessed to Jellal and got rejected."

The shock was collective. "What?"

Erza chuckled. "Yeah, I was surprised, too. I thought it was mutual, and when I confessed, we almost kissed. But then he pulled back at the last second and said he was in love with someone else."

"That's bullshit!" Levy blurted. "He doesn't treat any other girls like he treats you. He even holds your hand. He's been acting like a boyfriend for weeks. How dare he?"

"Did he say who it was?" I asked.

"No," Erza said. "Truthfully, I doubt such a person exists. I think he just panicked. Unsurprisingly, the guy's got the self-confidence of a peanut."

"Juvia will go beat him up for Erza," Juvia said, pounding a fist into her palm.

"I'll get my own retribution without violence," Erza said. "If he's going to lie to me like that, it's clear he doesn't respect my feelings. For now at least, I'm cutting him off and giving myself some space. Anything more is unnecessary. But thanks, Juvia."

Juvia wrapped her arms around herself. "Juvia's friends all seemed to be happily in love so Juvia wanted to confess to Gray, but now it seems like this week is cursed."

"It's best to wait until next week," I agreed. Also, I still wasn't so sure that Gray reciprocated Juvia's feelings. It was possible, but other than when Lyon was around, when did he really pay any attention to her?

Argh, our love lives were all in shambles. Well, my conversation with Natsu had gone fairly well, but I couldn't help but feel that it was the calm before the storm.

A/N: Whewwwwww deep breaths guys. See you next week!