Lucy Pov~

Lucy looked around the street she was currently on her expressionless gaze showing nothing of her thoughts, the street was barren and empty while bodies of the diseased were scattered in front of every store, street sign, and car. She wore a black jacket with a red shirt and blue jeans and converse that were covered in blood from the zombies before, her golden blonde hair was pulled into a ponytail and her celestial keys and whip sat on her belt while her bow was draped across her shoulder. Looking around one final time Lucy made her through the town looking for stores that hadn't been ravaged in search of food.

'I hope I find something this time' she silently thought as her stomach grumbled, she hadn't eaten in weeks and no animals were around for her to hunt. Just when Lucy thought she would never find food she spotted a decent sized forest on the horizon, filled with a small boost to find food she continued onward getting to the forest in no time.

Once in the forest Lucy looked around her, her bow string pulled back and an arrow loaded onto it. She crept forward not making a sound when a shaking of bushes sounded from somewhere ahead of her. Narrowing her eyes Lucy prepared herself to face whatever could be in front of her and carefully made her way through the bushes coming face to face with a family of bunnies. Unaware that they had already started to run for safety Lucy looked on in awe until she came back to her senses and released an arrow into each and every one of the six bunnies.'Wow' she thought to herself, 'Looks like my luck's finally turned around' Smiling Lucy gather up the bunnies and looked for a spot to set up camp.

After searching for about two hours Lucy came across a half hollowed out great oak tree that had been struck by lightening. While walking around the tree and examining it an idea came to Lucy's mind as she set her bags down near her, grabbing her knife from her hip. Making slow cuts Lucy started to chop off pieces of the inside of the tree hollowing it out carefully but not making it too hollow as to where light would shine through it. When Lucy was done she gather the outside bark and started to link them together with vines to create the illusion of bark still on the tree and hung it on the inside of the tree. From the outside it looked as if nothing had happened to the tree and even a few vines hung down across where Lucy had made her makeshift door. Smiling to herself Lucy walked into her little makeshift house and settled down.

"Now this is what I call a proper hideout", she said with a smile hanging up a wet rag on the hole in the top of the tree she had made so no smoke would come out. (A/N. In case there's confusion she had made a hole in the tree and hung a wet rag on the hole so the smoke couldn't come out as obvious. P.S. wet rags catch smoke almost like a filter.)

With a happy sigh Lucy got to work skinning and preparing the rabbits before skewering them and setting them on the fire to cook. She smiled and watched the door to her front just in case someone did come across her hideout.

Natsu Pov~

Natsu growled and looked back at the guys chasing him. 'Geez you think they would've given up by now.' He thought to himself as he made his way around building after building to get away from the group chasing after him. 'Doesn't look like they're going to let up'

"Guess I'll just have to fight!" he yelled coming to a halt as a small 'mew' sounded from his scarf catching his attention, he looked down at the little blue furball holding onto him.

"Don't even think about it Natsu!" the blue furball yelled, "You took down enough of them already! You practically cleared their base!" With a frown and a huff the pink haired teen ran until he came to the edge of the town spotting a forest along the horizon and sighed in relief looking back to the guys who were gaining on him. 'If I could just get over there I'm sure I could lose them', he sighed speeding up a little.

Once in the forest he looked behind him and saw the guys still following him.

"Guess that plan didn't work huh happy?" he asked his little blue cat holding onto his scarf as it grumbled a 'whatever' in response. With a chuckle he set off again and came across a clearing with a giant oak tree,

"Hey you little fucker where'd you go!" the leader of the group screamed running behind him into the clearing. Natsu stopped at the oak tree and huffed trying to catch his breath when a small hand reached out of the tree and pulled him in covering his mouth.

"He-!"

"Shhh!" the voice hissed holding his head close to her chest as she covered his mouth. He nodded and they waited as the guys stomped past grumbling and yelling at one another

"Where'd he go?!"

"I don't know you were the one following him!"

"Well look jackass he killed half the guild!", the girl holding him growled and dropped her hold on him marching towards the entrance to the tree hut "How dare they call themselves a guild" she hissed quietly. Now he was the one holding her back and covering her mouth.

"Let's just forget about him we got his backpack anyway, he's basically as good as dead."

"Yeah I guess you're right" the leader grumbled as they walked off.

The girl in his arms continued to glare after the men outside of the tree and looked at him after a moment, "Mind letting me go" she said into his hand, her voice muffled by his hold.

"Oh! Yeah... sorry..." he mumbled dropping his hand and rubbing the back of his head. As his awkwardness faded he got a good look at her, she had beautiful blonde hair, a small perfect little face, and gorgeous cocoa brown eyes. 'Wait a minute' he thought for a moment staring at her eyes, why didn't they show anything. He gasped suddenly startling her and she threw a glare his way before bending down and turning the rabbits over the fire.

"Woah what's up with your eyes!?" he asked her his eyes wide as he reached over and grabbed her face examining her features closer. After a moment she grabbed his hand and flipped him over her shoulder onto the ground. He landed with an 'oof!' and she turned looking down at him.

"What do you mean?" she asked her face expressionless, he tilted his head realizing she didn't show emotion anywhere, not just in her eyes.

"I mean why are you so stone faced" he grumbled sitting up and rubbing his head where it had hit the floor. "Geez you didn't have to flip me over like that." he frowned as happy crawled out from his scarf.

"Geez Natsu what's the big idea! Why'd you flip over like that!?" the little blue exceed huffed as the blonde teen in front of him eyes widened at it.

"Is that an exceed?!" she asked in amazement as she bent down to touch it. "I didn't know there was still some around" she continued her eyes returning to their usual hard stare. Looking up at the pink haired boy in front of her she frowned at his stare in amazement at her faces emotion change so rapidly.

"What?" she asked standing up again. He shook his head again,

"Er nothing. By the way, the names Natsu!" he smiled his bubbly personality coming to light as a goofy grin spread on his face.

"And this is happy!" he said motioning with his thumb at the blue exceed that was now flying behind him, one of his eyes closed in a wink. "It's nice to meet ya!"

"Aye sir!" The exceed spoke too in acknowledgement to the pink-haired teens introduction.

"I'm Lucy" The blonde teen answered nodding her head to the rabbits that were cooking. "You guys hungry?" The pink-haired teen and the blue exceed smiled at her brightly before enveloping her in a huge hug that caught her off guard.

"YOUR A GODDESS!" they both screamed letting her go and bouncing around the fire and rabbits before sitting down looking at her expectantly. "I'll take that as a yes," she sighed chuckling internally as a smile graced her lips catching both the teen and exceed off guard. Natsu stared at her wide eyed, 'How long has it been since she's smiled?' he thought turning his gaze to her hands that worked swiftly keeping the fire alive and turning the rabbits to cook them thoroughly.

He frowned thinking of her smile, it graced her face and had so much sadness behind it he knew it hadn't been used in awhile. In exactly how long he didn't know, but he knew she had something off. Questions swirled through his head and his thoughts wondered ignoring everything else around him.

How long had she been alone?

Where were her parents and/or friends?

Did she have any friends?

Did she have any family?

Why didn't she smile?

What happened to her that made her so sad and emotionless?

All these questions wracked his brain and he didn't have answers to any of them. Natsu frowned and continued to stare off into space until a certain blonde's voice brought him back to reality.

"-atsu Natsu!" he jumped at the sound of his name and looked up at the blonde.

"Huh?" he said looking blankly at the Lucy's blank expression, "I said it's done, your hungry aren't you?"

"Oh thanks" he smiled his toothy grin and sat up shaking happy softly. "Come on happy the foods done." The small blue exceed groaned and sat up rubbing it's eyes. "Huh we have food?" Natsu chuckled at the cat and nodded, "Yup an awesome scary blonde chick invited us to eat some rabbits she caught, you hungry or what?" The cat jumped up and ran to the blonde hugging her tightly, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" it shouted before flying over to the rabbits that now sat on some plates and snatched one up, not caring one bit that it wasn't fish. The blonde smiled softly her hair blocking the pink haired idiots view of her so he wouldn't gawk at her, but he noticed anyway.

"Why don't you smile?" he questioned and the blonde sighed a sad look flashing in her eyes before it was quickly pushed back. He frowned as he noticed this and waited for an answer.

"It's a long story" she frowned looking up at him and then down at the cute little blue cat munching on the cooked rabbit.

"Well we got time." Natsu smiled encouragingly as he settled down to listen to her story. With a sigh Lucy nodded and began to tell her tale of sorrow.

Lucy Pov~

Lucy stared at the ground a frown plastered on her face as she thought over where to begin her story.

"It actually started before all this," she started hesitantly sighing as the weight on her shoulders was lifted lightly by sharing the story.

"My parents and I lived on the streets for years until the... it started. After it did we thought the worst of our problems was over, ironic how we thought that as the world ended." she chuckled sadly looking at Natsu to meet his sorrowful gaze. "But it's what we thought, we built a cottage in the woods on the outskirts of magnolia and lived happily for a year, my mother even got pregnant and was going to give birth in about two or three weeks." Her gaze faltered and her eyes clouded as she looked back down at the ground. "Why am I even telling you this" she sighed looking at her hands which to her surprise the pink haired boy in front of her grabbed in comfort.

"Because we've both suffered enough to deserve a vent to share our pain." He answered suddenly filled with wisdom his dark green eyes gazing into her cocoa brown ones comfortingly as she smiled gratefully, continuing her story.

"It was two years ago. I had gone on a run and found the most supplies we've ever had in a run. I always went by myself so my father could protect my mother, but this time I wished I'd stayed home." Her voice faltered as she lowered her head, her blonde bangs covering her eyes. "I came back a week later, I had found plant seeds, canned food, and some clothing items even dragging a few of them behind me as I excitedly entered the forest to our cottage... only... only..." she choked on a sob and covered her face with her hands as tears slid down the sides of her face. The boy and exceed in front of her cringed at her sobs and listened more lowering their heads slightly.

"Only to find them all dead!" She shouted at last finally finishing her sentence. She caught her breath after a moment and Natsu sighed wishing he hadn't forced her to relive these painful memories. "My father was tied up faced in the direction of my mother whom was lying on the ground... with his throat slashed. He had a gag in his mouth and my mother... she..." She closed her eyes taking another shaky breath before opening them to reveal a burning anger that left Natsu and Happy scooting back a little wide eyed. "She had her dress torn to shreds and her legs were wide open, broken... They had taken advantage of her... and slashed her stomach open." She spit out the last words with pure venom obviously not over the pain and anger those thieves or bandits had caused her and her parents.

Natsu and Happy stared at her in horror, anger filling their own green and black orbs as Natsu clenched his fists drawing blood. "How... how can people be so cruel..." Lucy continued, angry tears pouring down her face as she glared at nothing in particular letting the anger she felt out as she reached into her bag and pulled out a sword.

"I'll never understand" she whispered getting to her feet as she wiped away her tears and made her way towards the entrance of the tree hut.

"Wait Lucy where are you going?!" Natsu asked jumping to his feet and running after the blonde.

"Just to let out some steam" she sighed looking up at him her eyes returning to their emotionless shield. He frowned and Lucy turned around ignoring his concern. "You can come if you want, I don't mind. And if you plan on traveling with me you should get to know how I work in battle." she said walking away. Natsu stared after her confused before smiling and running into the hut to grab his own sword and dagger running after her.

Their journey had just begun and Lucy could tell the pink haired moron and his cheerful nosiness would lead to trouble. She sighed continuing onward her sword in it's sheath at her side with her keys and whip. 'Maybe this could be a good thing' The blonde thought to herself looking at the pink haired teen who smiled at her kindly, she nodded her head and turned back towards the path to a training ground she had come across, though she almost smiled at him though she kept it to herself, keeping her emotions trapped in her mind.

A/N Hey guys sorry for the wait tell me what you think of the chapter and please leave reviews xD I love to read what you guys leave and ill even answer question on my next chapter. Love you guys and thanks for waiting! ~Alex.