Reunion

Natsu was almost disappointed when he so easily beat the winning guild of the Grand Magic Games. Had guilds go so far downhill in just one year? Not that it really mattered, Fairy tail always had been, and always would be the number 1 guild in Fiore.

As he reveled in the victory, he sensed something, something he hadn't sensed in a year. Natsu looked up, and saw a blonde. Lucy he thought. She'd physically matured slightly, and her hair was longer. As far as Natsu was concerned, she was just as beautiful as always.

"Natsu!" Lucy cried out in surprise. Natsu looked at her, and noticed that his fire had burnt much of her clothes off.

"Hell no!" he declared, before using his fire to launch up to her level. He then stripped off his cloak, and draped it over her.

"Natsu…," Lucy began.

"What the hell are these pictures!" Natsu said, pulling out one of the magazines he had been hoarding. Lucy immediately flushed bright red at the sight of it.

"You've been buying those magazines?" she asked in surprise.

"I couldn't like other guys see you like that!" Natsu said, "How could you do stuff like that?" Lucy at first didn't know what to say, but that didn't last.

"Well its not like I wanted to do it!" she said, "But I had to do something for money."

"By showing off to everyone!" Natsu said, "I couldn't let any creeps ogle you like that! Why do you even need money anyway?" Lucy opened her mouth to explain. But she didn't want to say it now.

"I'll tell you later," Lucy said. She then looked over at the stadium.

"Did you have to destroy the whole stadium?" she asked.

(later, outside the palace)

Lucy met Natsu and Happy after the king pardoned them. It was then that she broke the news about the guild to them. The reaction was exactly what she expected.

"How could Fairy Tail disband?" he asked, hanging his head in depression.

"How?" Happy asked.

"I couldn't tell you," Lucy said, "I've asked that question just about every day over the past year."

"How could the Master do this?" Natsu griped angrily, "How could he just leave everyone just like that? How could anyone be okay with this?" Lucy tensed up slightly upon hearing that.

"That's weird coming from you," she said, "Its not like you really asked if anyone was okay with it, when you left." Natsu listened to that, as he looked down. Lucy's comment stung. Was it really the same? The Dragon Slayer didn't think so.

"Anyway, you were probably going through quite a lot at that time," Lucy said, smiling. Natsu and Happy stared at her.

(later again)

Lucy lead the group back to her house, and the two were of course quite impressed.

"I imagine you two don't have any money or a place to stay, I'll let you crash here," Lucy said.

"Thank you so much!" Natsu said as he hugged Lucy, who just chuckled slightly.

"But if you damage anything, or set a single foot into my room, I'll kick you out so fast you won't know what happened!" Lucy said, "Got it!" Right after she finished saying that, Happy started sharpening his claws on Lucy's wall.

Lucy brought out Cancer to give Natsu a much needed haircut, and the two promptly sat down together, where Natsu told Lucy about their time out on the road. And despite everything, Lucy felt good about hearing about all that.

"So you really bought every magazine with my picture?" Lucy asked.

"Hell yeah!" Natsu said, "I couldn't let any other guy look at you the way they were!"

"Well," Lucy admitted, "Guess I'd rather have you do with the magazines than some old guy in a dark room."

"Gah!" Happy yelped, "Don't talk like that!"

"A girl's got to do what a girl's got to do," Lucy said, "I actually wanted to be a reporter. But at first all they'd give me was modeling gigs. Did you at least read some of the articles I wrote?"

"You wrote?" Natsu asked, cocking his head. Lucy should've felt more annoyed at that, but she actually felt somewhat flattered in how Natsu would collect at least something she was part of.

"So you really did nothing but train?" she asked.

"Pretty much," Natsu said, "I wonder…" That got him thinking about the others, and he started sulking again.

"Well, everyone's fine, don't worry," Lucy said, "They all went their own way."

"That's not it," Natsu said, "Is Fairy Tail really something they can just set aside like that? Doesn't it mean anything?" Lucy clenched her fists and teeth.

"I don't know, does it?" she asked. Natsu looked at her.

"You just walked away from Fairy Tail," Lucy said, glaring at him, "You just set it aside."

"I was only going to be gone a year!" Natsu said, "And I left a note!"

"A year is a long time!" Lucy countered, "You can't just take your leave and expect others to be okay with it! That might as well just be the same as abandoning them!"

"I was gong to come back!" Happy, meanwhile, retreated to the side, as he stared at the ground. He didn't want to get involved in this.

"You still left me!" Lucy said, "You couldn't even face me and say you were going! Hell, why didn't you just ask me to come!" The Dragon Slayer clenched his fists, and tightened his jaw.

"You think I didn't want to?" Natsu asked. Lucy suddenly stopped.

"What do you mean?" she asked. Natsu stared at the floor, as he clasped his hands tightly.

"I watched you die," Natsu said, "And I wasn't able to do anything. It was my fault that you died. I failed you. I didn't want to even take the slightest risk of you getting hurt again." Lucy listened to this. Admittedly, she never thought about it like that.

"But you still just left me alone," Lucy said, "I thought you and I were a team. I thought we stuck together."

"You weren't supposed to be alone," Natsu said, "You were supposed to be with everyone in Fairy Tail. If I had known Fairy Tail would disband…." Natsu tensed up, before looking up at Lucy.

"I was going to go, and I'd be back before you knew it," he said. Lucy listened to Natsu's speech, and thought about it. Honestly, she'd never thought about it that way. The whole year, she had been angry at Natsu about leaving the way he did. But now having heard his side….

"I'm sorry," she finally said. That surprised Natsu.

"Lucy," he said.

"Its unfair for me to be so mad at you for leaving," Lucy said, "Its not like anyone else really talked with each other about leaving." She thought about Wendy leaving for Lamia Scale, and now being one of the guild's most well known members; or Levy, one of Lucy's best friends, leaving for the Magic Council, which really prevented the two from meeting with each other.

"Its just…," Lucy said. She then began to shake slightly, and Natsu noticed tears building in her eyes.

"You and I went through so much," she said, "We fought dragons together, we literally faced hell together. And when you actually did something without me, I just…." She then covered her face, and began to sniffle slightly. This time, Natsu did exactly what to do.

Lucy was surprised when a pair of strong arms wrapped themselves around her. She looked up, and noticed in surprise, Natsu holding her.

"From here on out, I'm never leaving you again," he said, "We'll never do anything alone again. We'll do everything together." Lucy sniffled again, before wrapping her arms around Natsu again.

"That's all I want," she asked. In that time, both mages basked in the moment.

"You're hair's longer," Natsu said. Lucy giggled.

"That's the first thing you notice?" she asked.

"You're shampoo is one of the first thing I smell." Lucy might have decked Natsu for that in the past, but decided to let it go this time.

"I'm glad you're back," she said.

"Same here."

There was a moment of silence, but…

"Does that mean going to the bathroom together?" Happy asked.

"Don't ruin the moment."

Note: For the sake of making things more interesting, I altered the reunion for it to be more NaLu. I hope you enjoyed it.

That said, it stands to mention that while Lucy's criticisms about Natsu are generally valid, I don't think they're entirely fair. As far as Natsu was aware, he was leaving her with Fairy Tail; he didn't know the guild was going to disband, so he figured Lucy would be fine while he took a leave of absence. Honestly, if Lucy took issue with Natsu just leaving, why didn't she take more issue with others leaving her as well?

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