It was about 2 months later when Lucy found out what happened to Acnologia. Apparently he went out and tried to find Zeref so that he could become a dragon again and reap his vengeance, or at least get some magic. He ran into some friends of Fairy Tail that were in the army and was captured. Lucy was asked to confirm who he was so he could be imprisoned.
Lucy shared this news with the dragon slayers.
"How did they know who he was?" Wendy asked.
"Excellent question. I just knew you would be the one to ask, Wendy. " Lucy smirked at the boys. "The answer to that is he was apparently going around loudly proclaiming what he was doing, you know looking for Zeref and everything. At first they were skeptical but when then I confirmed who he was and gave them a brief explanation of what happened." Lucy smiled. The talk continued on about Acnologia and the dragons for a while longer. After a time period Natsu came up to Lucy and whispered in her ear quietly so that none of the others could hear. Lucy nodded then caught Laxus' eye.
"I'll be right back," Lucy mouthed to Laxus and he nodded. As the two walked out the door, the conversation in the guild turned to them.
"So the flamebrain finally decided to confess," Gray said and the guild laughed.
"I'm still not sure he understands fully either what he means when he says he likes her," Gajeel said and the guild roared. Laxus was the only one not laughing, he wasn't sure what he was feeling at the moment. After the guild quieted down Mirajane spoke up.
"The question in not if Natsu understands. The question is..." The guild went completely silent at her words. "The question is what will Lucy's answer be."
At that Laxus got up and left, while the guild returned to their own conversations.
"Natsu, why are we going outside?" Lucy asked grumbling because it was chilly.
"I don't want anyone else to overhear," Natsu said then led Lucy to the park with the big cherry trees. Then he faced her, Lucy though looked around the park. This place had so many memories, not all of them good but the most recent one she had with Laxus put a smile on her face.
"Lucy," Natsu said and Lucy turned her attention to him. "I need to tell you... um that I... well it... umm..." Lucy blinked then sighed she knew where this was going. She could practically hear his head screaming about what he needed to say.
"Natsu enough," Lucy said and held up her hand to stop him. Natsu stopped babbling and turned a shade of pink. Lucy moved closer and put her hand on his cheek. "I know what you want to say."
"You do?" Natsu said and his eyes opened wide in astonishment. "Then..."
"I am your friend," Lucy said. "and I always will be." Lucy paused and took a deep breath. She knew this would hurt. "But we can't be anything else." Lucy dropped her hand, stepped back and continued. "I will always remember and be grateful to you for bringing me to Fairy Tail and for being my partner but Natsu I am still barely able to trust most of the people in the guild with all that has happened. Luckily for me each and every one of them is slowly ingraining themselves back into my heart."
Natsu's head dropped just enough to hide his eyes with his hair.
"Friends, huh?" he said quietly.
"I am sorry," Lucy said. "There is also someone I care about very dearly but it is not you." Natsu nodded then walked past Lucy. Tears came to her eyes because it hurt her to see him go when she knew he was in so much pain but she had done exactly what she needed to do. For Natsu and for herself. Lucy turned and took a step towards the entrance but stopped when she saw Laxus standing there. He walked towards her and stopped when he was arm length away.
"Hey," Laxus said straight-faced.
"Hey," Lucy queried. "What are you doing here?" She looked around to see if anyone else had followed. Laxus blushed slightly.
"Well I was umm... Well I mean..." Laxus stuttered and Lucy blinked.
"Are all the dragon slayers having problems talking today?" Lucy said laughingly then moving forward she linked her arm with Laxus'. "Lets talk tomorrow."