She was running, a wide smile on her face as the wind breezed through her hair.
"Yo Luce."
"Lushy, do ya have some fish?"
"Hello Lucy."
"Can I borrow your shirt? I can't find mine..."
Lucy shook her head at Gray, "Go ask someone else," she suddenly felt herself stopping, her feet wouldn't move anymore.
"Don't ask me."
"I wasn't going to Flame-brain."
"What did you say Ice-princess?"
"Friends shouldn't fight."
"Aye, it gets old."
Lucy's eyes widened realizing that they were walking ahead of her, "Guys!" she called out pleadingly.
'Can't they see that they're ahead of me?'
But they were already too far from her, she couldn't even see their backs.
Lucy looked down, tears welling up in her eyes.
"Jeez, you're so slow Luce."
Lucy jumped in surprise before looking up to see her best friend. "Natsu.."
"Come on, everyone's waiting."
"They are?"
Natsu offered her his blazing smile, "Yeah, so let's go." he ordered holding out his hand for her.
A smile tugged up at Lucy's lips as she lifted her hand up to grasp his.
But he was suddenly standing farther away from her.
Lucy frowned stepping forward, but he just kept getting farther away.
"What are you waiting for?" Natsu asked.
Lucy started running towards him.
"Come on!"
"I'm trying, you're just too far away from me!" Lucy yelled desperately trying to grasp his hand.
"Just run faster."
"It's not that easy!" Lucy snapped as she tripped and fell on her knees.
"What do you mean? You just have to work harder." Natsu asked with that goofy smile of his.
"It's still not enough, no matter how fast I keep going you're still too far from my reach!" Lucy explained.
"Well, if you're not coming then I'm going on ahead."
"No!" Lucy yelled reaching out again, "Don't leave me behind, take me with you!" she was running again but she still couldn't reach him.
He didn't look back, he just kept going and going until she could barely see him.
"If you leave me,I'd be so lonely..."
"Stupid!" Lucy yelled sitting upright.
"Aye!" both Natsu and Happy yelled in surprise.
"Huh?" Lucy mumbled looking at the two home invaders, tears of relief welled up in the corner of her eyes.
"Were you having a bad dream Lushy? You kept tossing and turning." Happy worriedly asked flying towards Lucy.
"Yeah, but it was just a dream, so don't worry about it." Lucy smiled at Happy.
"You shouldn't act so tough when you're obviously sad Luce." Natsu chided.
"Is it that obvious?" Lucy sighed.
"Aye" Happy nodded.
Lucy hugged her knees close to herself, "I was so scared, you know? I almost thought that it was really happening, that you and Natsu were leaving me behind."
"We'd never do that Luce, we're a team." Natsu firmly said
Lucy gave a weak smile, 'I know you two would never leave me intentionally, but I didn't mean it in the physical sense.'
"I know, how about we take a job together today?" Natsu suggested.
"That'd be great." Lucy smiled, her nightmare now in the back of her head.
Then she realized something.
"WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING IN MY ROOM?!" She roared in anger.
"We were worried." Natsu answered, unaffected by Lucy's rage.
"Huh?" Lucy was confused.
"You never showed up for our job yesterday so we got worried."
Lucy's mouth dropped open in realization, the memories of what had happened the day before playing in her head.
"Aye, where were you?" Happy worriedly asked.
"Become Brain's successor."
"I...something came up." Lucy lied looking the other way.
She didn't want to see Happy and Natsu's hurt faces.
She felt guilty enough already.
.o0o.o0o.
"So what really happened?" Cana asked the moment Lucy took a seat at the table that was currently occupied by Cana, Levy, Wendy, Carla, and Erza.
"What are you talking about?" Lucy asked.
"Yesterday." Erza clarrified, "You ditched Happy and Natsu." She said with a disapproving look.
Levy was quick to defend her best friend by speaking up."I'm sure Lu-chan has her reasons." The Script Mage said.
"How do you guys even know about that?" Lucy asked.
"Happy told us." Carla said.
"Of course..." Lucy sweat dropped while Wendy sent her an apologetic look.
"Answer the question already." Cana urged taking a swig of beer.
Lucy looked away.
How could she tell them what happened?
She had essentially betrayed Fairy Tail by going to meet with Midnight and Cobra.
"Lucy-san?" Wendy worriedly asked.
Lucy knew that they were starting to get suspicious of her, and that they would probably come up with a crazy theory on where she was.
"I ended up meeting with someone I knew. We started talking, and I lost track of time. It really doesn't matter."
She didn't exactly lie. She was just vague.
She hated herself for what she did. Imagine if she had agreed with the two criminals, despite how tempted she was and still is. She would hate herself more, so she decided to decline Cobra's request.
"Oh, a date, huh?" Cana teasingly smirked.
Lucy flushed, in reality the situation could have been called anything but a date, and she denied it.
The topic completely changed when Cana started musing on who Lucy would end up with when they're all older.
Lucy ended up forgetting about the whole dilema for a moment.
But, just like everyone else who tries to forget their troubles, their troubles eventually end up catching up to them.
In Lucy's case it was a bit hard to explain when her cool exterior cracked.
Maybe it was when Makarov announced the S-class trials.
Maybe it was when all her close friends were chosen, except for her.
Maybe it was when her heart couldn't help but ache when Natsu chose Happy as his partner despite knowing that Natsu wouldn't choose her.
Maybe it was when she realized that her nightmare was coming true. Natsu, Happy, Gray, Erza...they were leaving her behind.
Point was, Lucy snapped. The part of her that wanted to deny her own happiness for the sake of her nakama disappeared.
She looked at Natsu.
"You're going to hold yourself back for your one-sided puppy love towards Natsu?"
Cobra wasn't exactly wrong, but he was too far from the truth too.
Natsu was much more than an object of affection for Lucy, who had been all alone before he had brought her to Fairy Tail.
When he's around, Lucy feels she's not alone, she feels like all her troubles don't exist, she feels...happy. The happiest she's ever been.
She doesn't only like Natsu, she needed him. Despite acting like she was independent, Lucy knew she was dependent on Natsu, because he was practically her crutch.
But...
She can't keep relying on him forever.
He was going away soon, only temporarily, but how much longer would it be before he left for real?
Lucy was no fool.
She knew one day Team Natsu would disband.
(Even if she wished with all her heart that things would stay the same, that their adventure would never end.)
And when Team Natsu disbands, what would be left of her?
Would people even remember her?
It made her feel uneasy.
"Don't you get tired of not gaining any recognition? Tired of being overshadowed by your teammates? Of always being in the background?"
And as her guild broke out into another brawl, Lucy knew her answer.
Yes!
She was tired, so very tired of it all. She wanted some of that. She wanted people to look at her like she was important. To respect her. To recognize her.
She knew that staying with Fairy Tail wouldn't help her. They already shined so much that no one would notice if they shined brighter.
"You lack resolve."
Just like Midnight had said, she had to let go.
Lucy swallowed hard, the weight of her decision feeling heavier than ever as she walked over to the Guild's door.
She glanced back at them, memorizing their happy expressions, knowing that she wouldn't be able to see it for a long time once she leaves.
(She held no illusion about being able to stay in Magnolia while she was with Oracion Seis.)
Then she walked out of the guild.
It wasn't until she was halfway back to her place that she realized something.
Her adventure with Fairy Tail...was over, wasn't it?
Lucy couldn't help herself as she broke down crying.
.o0o.o0o.
Lucy took in a deep breath.
"I'll become Brain's successor."
Cobra and Midnight both gave her knowing looks, as if they knew from the very start that she would agree in the end.
Lucy wouldn't be surprised if they did.
"Welcome to the guild, Master." Cobra teasingly said.
.o0o.o0o.
Author's Note: Well first off thanks for all the support! I'm glad people actually like this story. I mean, some part of me thought people would go insane if any Fairy Tail story involving Lucy was not a NaLu. Thank Kami that wasn't the case.
Anyways, before I leave y'all, I'd like to address a negative review I got at the start of this story, I'm not going to call this person out, instead I'll clear up their issue with this story.
First off, this reader said that Natsu and Happy would never ditch Lucy. I agree, they would never. Except they kind of did when Natsu along with the other guild members began taking more jobs to get selected for the trials. Chapter 201, page 6. (I checked.)
Second, this reader said Lucy is weak. Well, I hate to break it to anyone who thinks the same, but she isn't. Otherwise she'd be dead. She's the most realistic character in Fairy Tail, every other main character is overpowered. I could give a long rant explaining why Lucy is strong, but just google "Lucy heartfilia is strong" and you're bound to find a lot of hardcore fans explaining why Lucy is badass. Oh, also the latest Fairy Tail chapter.
Well, now that the issues been addressed. Have a nice day~!