AN: I *sniffle* got reviews! And story alerts! And other nice things! *pukes from happiness* But seriously, thank you all. I was originally quite worried about this story, but you've all given me confidence. Now, with courage and an itunes playlist tailored specifically for this story, let us embark on chapter two!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything apart from a few shreds of sanity.
Chapter 2 – Her New Home
…cigam fo dlrow a pu tliub uoy oS
It was raining. Grey clouds covered the sky; it seemed to Lucy as though she was being smothered.
She'd been having that feeling a lot recently.
Her bus was late again. As Lucy approached the bus stop, she saw only four people. Two young men – neither of whom gave her a second glance – and an elderly couple. One of them, a woman, gave Lucy a warm smile as she approached and seated herself on the cold metal bench.
She tried to read her book, but to no avail. Her mind felt dull, stifled by the blanket of ash grey. She closed her eyes and tried desperately to take a breath. To Lucy, the air felt stale. Of course, she knew it wasn't the weather's fault. She was being suffocated by her life in general. She wanted to break free, to feel alive. And she was…
The edges of the blonde's mouth twitched upwards into what could be interpreted as a smile. Lucy was exuberated at the thought of finally living alone. Although she wouldn't really be alone.
She had Fairy Tail. Her nakama would be with her through the thick and thin.
"Natsu!" Lucy shrieked. Having just come out of the shower, she was wearing nothing but a fluffy white towel. And since the boiler was broken, the water was ice cold, making her crabbier than usual. Finding the pink haired moron on her bed didn't help.
"Hey, Luce!" he grinned. "I'm hungry!"
It took every inch of Lucy's being to not bash his head in with the nearest blunt object she could find. "Natsu." She said icily, giving the boy a frosty glare. "You are an adult. You are perfectly capable of getting your own food."
"If you do, I'll go on a mission with you."
Lucy froze. Mission… money… fixed boiler… warm showers. The girl sighed in defeat. "Sure, just let me get ready, m'kay?"
"Sure thing!" her partner replied before going to raid the fridge.
Getting her own apartment had been surprisingly easy for Lucy.
The day she asked her father, they had been in the kitchen. He was on his laptop, writing up something to do with his work whilst occasionally sipping his coffee; she was cutting up fruit to make a smoothie. After much internal debate, Lucy mustered up her courage and spoke.
"Dad?"
He mumbled in reply, not looking at her. Lucy couldn't help but think back to the last situation like this- when she had asked if fairies had tails.
This question was more sensible. "Can I get my own apartment?" she simply requested.
"Why?"
Lucy bit her lip. She had thought it all through, but she was still scared she'd get caught out on her lies. She spurted out a load of rubbish about her counsellor saying that living on her own would promote the independence she needed to forget about Fairy Tail.
Her father either didn't notice her dishonesty or didn't care. He finally looked up at her, staring straight into her eyes. "Very well."
He set her a budget, she chose an apartment.
That was the closest to family bonding that had ensued between the two for seven years.
"Lu-chan!" Levy sang as her friend entered the guild. Said blonde grinned before sitting next to her fellow bookworm. Levy grinned. "So, how's the new chapter going?"
"Horribly." Lucy replied. "I've got chronic writer's block."
Her blue haired friend groaned. "Awww. And you left on such a cliffhanger."
"I know, I know. I'll have it done next week, okay? Actually, make that two weeks. Natsu and I are going on a mission." Upon noticing a certain shirtless ice mage arguing with her teammate, she quickly added Gray's name to the team list… and Erza's.
The team selected a fairly simple job- they had to defeat a group of dark mages who had been stalking in the woods around a small town and had taken a handful of women hostage.
They would have infinite fun beating those jerks up.
Upon arriving home, the first thing Lucy did was have a shower- a warm, steamy one. After the grey, dreary weather outside, the blonde thought of this as a few minutes in heaven.
When she had washed, dried and dressed, Lucy couldn't help but look in the mirror and frown. She hated her appearance. Dull blonde hair reached her shoulders, thin and wispy. She was slender, but not effeminate- throughout High School, it had been made clear that Lucy's lack of curves was unnatural. True, she had slight hips, but nothing like the hourglass figures revered for their beauty. And her lack of bust was the reason most boys paid her no attention.
She was milky pale, freakishly so, with a willowy figure. Dark bags hung underneath her eyes.
Her eyes. They were one of the few things Lucy liked about herself. They were a rich russet brown, deep and powerful. Lucy disliked most of her physical features, but, looking in the mirror, she smiled as she stared into her own soul.
It wasn't that Lucy had anything physically wrong with her; she was simply an unlucky person who wasn't gifted with beauty. But she didn't want to be - she was too plain, too average. All throughout her childhood, she had dreamt of becoming like Layla, a woman so majestic, so charming and so stunning that, in Lucy's eyes, there was no woman finer than her mother.
When Lucy began to live in Fairy Tail, she modelled herself after what she wished to be- a busty, golden haired beauty who dressed as she wished, lit up the world with her smile and had complete confidence in her looks.
Something else the real Lucy had never experienced was love. She'd had boyfriends, but…
Her first boyfriend had been one of her best childhood friends, and they went out because it seemed like a good idea at the time. It didn't work, and the two suddenly found being in each other's presence awkward. Their friendship drifted apart.
Her second boyfriend only went out with her because she was blonde, and dumped her the moment he saw a larger chested woman. Pervert.
Her third boyfriend had been kind, very kind. Chivalrous in that he did everything for her; including thinking. Somehow, he must have got it into his brain that Lucy was either mentally retarded or that she wished to simply be a doll to hang off his arm.
Her fourth boyfriend had actually been perfect. He made Lucy smile, made her laugh, caused her heart to flutter wildly. That boy made her feel special. Then she made one of the most idiotic moves she could have possibly could; she told him about Fairy Tail. She showed him her drawings, told him about her nakama. He broke up with her and told all his friends. And so every male in the school knew it- Lucy Heartfilia was a freak.
She gave up on romance after that, instead deciding to devote herself even more to becoming a strong mage. In fact, that was around the time she gained Loke's key- Loke, who forever commented on her beauty, who stood beside her as a comrade. Leo, her strongest spirit.
This was also around the time that her feelings for Natsu began to develop. Well, it wasn't like that was when they started. Before, they had been a seed, gradually germinating. They had been growing for a while. It just happened to be that the shoot first began emerging from the soil around the same time that she gave up on real world men. Lucy had always been fond of her dragon boy, of course, but loneliness and rejection caused her heart to now reach of for him.
Shaking her head, she ended her requiem of thoughts and went down for dinner. Her father wasn't home yet, the fridge was desolate, and Lucy wasn't in the mood for a meal; instead, the girl made herself some Cup of Soup accompanied with a slice of bread before deciding to go to bed.
Her room was packed with boxes. These structures of cardboard sent that same wave of excitement through the teenager. For tomorrow she would be moving into an apartment of her own. The boxes were filled with personal possessions- items of large furniture were already in her soon-to-be-home. True, she would be on her own in her new apartment, but that didn't mean she would be alone. She had company- even if said company consisted of imaginary friends.
No, they weren't imaginary. They were her nakama. They were magical and they were always beside her.
She needed them. Therefore, they had to be real.
Lucy flopped onto the sofa. Who knew that moving could be such trouble? After a day of carrying her boxes of personal possessions up, buying groceries, running to her counselling session then unpacking her boxes. Lucy wanted nothing more than to sleep. She had been up since 6 am, and was pretty sure it had to be at least 7 pm by now.
She just managed to make herself a cup of hot chocolate before succumbing to her desires. Putting the hot drink on her bedside table, she clambered –fully dressed – under the covers.
Just like that, she was back in Fiore.
"Natsu!" Lucy shrieked. The sick dragonslayer was splayed across the seat, his head on her lap. And he was drooling all over her favourite skirt.
"Hate…trains…"
With one shove, he was pushed onto the floor where he continued to be sick. Gray laughed and Erza looked upon Natsu with disapproval.
"Lucy's so mean!" Happy wailed, pointing his paw at her accusingly.
"What the hell?"
Footsteps.
"Is someone coming?" Lucy asked Erza. The Titania stared at her questioningly.
They were getting louder.
"Someone's coming. Can't you hear it?" The celestial mage said frantically, turning to Gray. He raised a quizzical eyebrow.
And the footsteps seemed loud, painfully loud. Lucy squeaked and put her hands over her ears but they continued.
And then she opened her eyes and found that she was staring at the ceiling. She could still hear the footsteps padding around. Biting her lip, the girl realised.
Somebody was in her apartment.
Heart beating frantically, she reached for the nearest weapon – her unplugged lamp – and gingerly got out of bed. Whoever was in there seemed to not understand subtlety; their stamping was obvious. Supressing the urge to scream, she positioned herself next to the door. The girl heard them approach. The knob turned. The door opened, slowly…
Lucy struck out, throwing herself at the intruder-
-and missed.
With a surprised yelp, she tumbled onto the carpet. Her near-victim let out a yell and leapt away from her, but stumbled and crashed onto the floor with a thud. Still brandishing her lamp, Lucy got up, fingers searching the wall desperately for a light switch.
When the lights came on, she found herself staring into some oddly familiar onyx eyes.
The boy on the floor rose up. And, as if Lucy hadn't tried to attack him for breaking into her apartment, he grinned and extended out a hand.
"You're the new girl, right? I'm Natsu- nice to meet ya!"
Thunk. Lucy dropped the lamp.
Surreal as it was, the two teenagers ended up in Natsu's apartment (which was next door to Lucy's and a whole lot messier) eating Pot Noodle.
"So…" Lucy said cautiously as she stroked the boy's pet cat. "Why exactly were you in my apartment?"
The strawberry blonde haired boy slurped up a Chinese Chow Mein flavoured noodle and grinned at her. "I wanted to say hi!"
The blonde rolled an eye. "In the dead of the night?"
"So?"
The two sat in comfortable silence before Lucy spoke up. "So… what's with the name?"
"Hmm?"
"Well, I don't mean to sound rude or anything, but Natsu…"
"My mom was half Japanese. It means 'summer'."
"Aaah." Lucy nodded. Come to think of it, his skin did seem lightly tanned. And summer seemed to suit him- he made her feel warm, if only because of the Pot Noodle.
"So, you're…?"
"Lucy."
"Well…I'm gonna call you Luce!"
She was instantly reminded of her mother, but smiled anyway.
"What's the cat called?"
"Happy."
Lucy choked on her noodle.
Natsu didn't quite mistook her reaction. "Hey! I came up with it when I was ten, okay?"
His companion could barely stop spluttering. How on earth… where was she, coincidence land?
After a failed attempt at the Heimlich Manoeuvre, they carried on to spend the next couple of hours just talking. Lucy couldn't remember the last time she'd had a conversation that flowed so easily. She was chatting, she was smiling, she was laughing and she was glowing. She felt as though, for a small amount of time, her mother had never died, that her father was caring and affectionate. She felt special.
Lucy learnt a lot about Natsu. He was eighteen and had left school aged sixteen. He worked part time as a waiter at a nearby café run by one of his childhood friends. Natsu had been raised by his godfather, Igneel, and had two 'siblings' of sorts.
"What about you?" he asked.
"Nothing special."
Her eyes basically screamed that she was being secretive, but Natsu decided to leave it alone. Instead, he attempted to brighten the situation by different means. "So, are you busy tomorrow? My shift ends at four, so we can meet up and just hang out. If you want."
Lucy bit her lip. Her counselling session was at four… ah, screw it.
"Sure!" she replied, grinning.
Once she had left, Natsu frowned, dumping himself on the sofa as he ran a hand through his hair. Why did he feel that he had met her before? What was this called… déjà vu?
Unable to comprehend whether or not he had previously met the blonde, he shrugged it off and went to sleep.
.cigart si efil laer ruoy esuaceB…
AN: …Woah, I still don't like this chapter. Took a while to write and I don't like it. But hey, a chapter is a chapter. What I love about this story is that it's evolved- I came up with a basic idea, then it grew and flourished. Unexpected, in a way. I have five chapters planned for this, so stick around !
PS: Those weird gibberish words at the beginning and end? Work it out.
See you next chapter!
~Meg